Teen Titans: The Approaching Storm
by Guardian Kitch
Summary: Slade's been defeated, costing Jump City a Titan in the process. Now, as the city and its heroes look to rebuild, a new evil emerges, one far darker and more dangerous than even the ruthless Slade himself, and if the Titans are going to combat such evil, they're going to need all the help they can get, including a one-time Jedi Apprentice and a survivor of Executive Order: 66...
1. Go!

**Okay, before you read my new story's opening chapter, there are a few things I want everyone to know. First off, this is a Teen Titans/Star Wars crossover fic I've wanted to do for years, so you will have elements from both worlds in this story. It takes place approximately a year following Order 66 and the events of _Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, _and in the Teen Titans animated show it would be happening immediately following the conclusion of Season Two, when Terra sacrifices herself to save Jump City, thus ending her service to Slade. Think of this as an intermissionary season between Seasons Two and Three.**

**Also, this first chapter is strictly a pilot chapter, meaning whether or not I continue this story depends on how many reviews I get and the content of of those reviews, so please, be honest and tell me what you think about it. **

**In addition, for those of you reading my other stories, I am working on them and should have more chapters posted relatively soon, so please be patient. **

**And finally, neither _Star Wars _or _Teen Titans _belong to me, so don't even go there. Now, on with the show!**

* * *

_**Chapter One: Go!**_

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

On and on she continued repeating this mantra, using it as though it were the center of her entire universe, the point around which the rest of her world revolved. The control she exhibited over her emotions was as strong and complete as it had ever been before, allowing her perfect neutrality and clearness as she expanded her metaphysical senses outwards, at first encompassing only her bedroom before extending to include all of Titan's Tower and then, eventually, the entire city.

Though unable to sense each individual citizen and visitor within the limits of Jump City, she could see perfectly the sea of amassed emotions, from happiness and joy to anger and sadness, a murky, rolling current of emotion she'd expected following the conquest of the city at the hands of the forces of the super villain known as Slade and its subsequent liberation following that man's demise at the hands of his redeemed apprentice.

Now _here _was where fifteen year-old Raven Roth could feel some of the control she exhibited over her emotions begin to fade. Terra. Even during her brief tenure as a Teen Titan and then as Slade's apprentice, she'd completely changed the complexion of the Titans forever, in ways they couldn't even begin to fathom. She'd been a dangerous enemy and a powerful friend. Though she'd denied it, even to the girl's face, Raven _had _trusted her, _had_ believed in her sincerity to join the team…had been just as betrayed and hurt when the truth about Terra's allegiances had at last found their way to the surface.

Of course, Raven silently reminded herself, still not stopping her mantra, none of them had been as hurt or betrayed by the young elemental as Beast Boy. From the day of her arrival, Raven had known there was something there, but it hadn't been until two days ago, the day Slade's reign of terror had ended, that she'd realized just how powerful those feelings had been. He'd loved her, she knew, as much as she'd loved him. Perhaps, Raven mused, the feelings between them had been stronger than even they themselves had realized.

Then, in a moment that, for her, was unheard of, she withdrew her metaphysical senses inwards until they were focused only on her, and then, still reciting her usual mantra, she began to extend them outwards once more. This time, however, she kept her senses and energies limited solely to the Tower, searching until, at last, she came to the presence that could only be the team's shape-shifting fighter of crime.

On the surface, he was normal, like always. Gathering from his current mixture of joy, elation, and frustration, she was fairly certain he was in the common room playing video games with Cyborg. Below that surface of facades, however, she could still sense the overwhelming pain and sorrow he was keeping bottled up, the sadness that had come with losing Terra, mixed with the relief and joy of knowing she'd gone out not as the apprentice of the greatest villain in recent memory but as a Teen Titan, a true hero.

And then, as quickly as her control had slipped, it returned. What had happened was in the past, and nothing could change it, nor would that fact itself ever change. Beast Boy, like the rest of them, had been hurt and betrayed by someone they'd all counted as a friend, and she'd found her redemption at the very end, using her powers to save the same city she'd helped conquer. She withdrew her emotions and senses before allowing them to flood back out over the city. Beast Boy would eventually move beyond what had happened, just as his broken heart would eventually heal, given enough time. Her powers were too great, too dangerous, to risk letting them become fueled and backed by any of her emotions, positive or negative. As Starfire had learned first-hand during their battle with the Puppet King, even the slightest slip in the control over her emotions could be catastrophic. She had told Beast Boy they'd find a way to reverse the effects of Terra's powers, that they _would _bring her back, and that was a promise she intended to keep, no matter how long it took. Besides, she reminded herself sternly, her presence or comfort would do very little to help Beast Boy heal any quicker. This, after all, was something only time would heal.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

With Slade now gone, it appeared the city was, for the moment, peaceful. Though Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Overload had disappeared following the fall of Slade and Terra, they appeared to at least be collecting themselves before their next attack, at which time the Titans would again take them down. For the moment, at any rate, all the other known criminals were currently behind bars, leaving the citizens of Jump City to rebuild in peace, without worry of falling victim to another super villain.

For nearly a full hour she continued her meditations, at one with herself and in perfect control of her emotions. Suddenly, though, she realized that, metaphysically, she wasn't alone. As though it were a light being switched on in the middle of the night, she found a second presence nearby, expanding itself across the city as though whoever this was might be searching for something…or someone.

With virtually no warning, then, her heart stopped in its track as her breath caught, her mantra suddenly going silent. There was a _second _metaphysical presence in Jump City, and this one, like the first presence she'd discovered, was completely different from both herself and the first presence. This person, whoever it might be, appeared in her mind akin to a distant thunderstorm slowly coming ever closer, a twisting, churning hurricane of emotions, of sheer darkness, a wall of familiar evil preparing to descend upon the city.

Realizing the dangerous level of power this newcomer possessed, she used her powers to latch onto the darkness and began to follow it back to its origin. However, before she could find the source of this power, the eye of the hurricane, she felt the darkness respond to her presence. Her voice still silent, her breath still frozen, she found herself being blown away by the darkness with such power that her meditations found themselves at a sudden end as she was picked up off of her bed and launched clear across the room, her back slamming hard into the cold steel of her room's wall.

Gasping for air, her breasts rising and falling as her chest heaved in and out, desperate to fill her body with oxygen once more, she climbed to her feet, quickly checking herself over to confirm she wasn't injured. Though Slade appeared to be gone, Raven knew someone else had come to take his place, to prey on a city that had only just begun recovering from conquest…a city nowhere near ready to withstand another evil mastermind so soon.

Turning around, she opened the door and strode out, not stopping as she pulled the hood of her cloak up and over her head, concealing a majority of her face from view. Jump City, she knew, like the Teen Titans, wasn't out of the woods yet.

* * *

He ducked down just in time to avoid the thick, sturdy leg aimed directly for his head. Allowing his opponent to overstep and lose balance, he launched himself up into the air and into a backflip, bringing his right leg up and thus sending his right foot directly into his foe's face, sending that opponent staggering backwards. Seizing his new opportunity, he lurched forward, launching a series of left-to-right-to-left punches that further drove his foe back. In a desperate move to defend himself, his opponent brought his left fist in, aimed directly at the young hero's head. It quickly became apparent, however, that this was a futile move, for the young hero brought both of his arms up, perfectly blocking the attack as he knocked the arm wide of its target. This, in turn, caused his foe to overstep once again, staggering in too close to the young hero, who immediately took advantage of this catastrophic mistake. He firmly grabbed the left arm, the same he'd just batted aside, while simultaneously turning around and hoisting his opponent onto his back. Still on the move, he then tossed his opponent over him and onto the ground. Now free of the extra weight, he launched himself high into the air, flipping head-over-heels several times before he began his descent towards his helpless adversary, who was looking up at him, as though waiting for him to finish up the bout. The young hero, in turn, pulled his left leg up as high as he could, turning his right leg into a sole missile. He heard the satisfying crunch, felt the shockwave spread up his leg and across his body, as his right foot made contact with his foe's head before caving in its face, not stopping until it had emerged through the back of his opponent's head and now rested on the floor below.

Placing his left foot on the floor below, Dick Grayson, known simply as Robin, the founder and leader of the Teen Titans, pulled his foot free of his adversary's caved-in face and planted into next to his left foot before turning to regard the room he was in.

Wires, circuit boards, robotic appendages, and twisted steel littered the training room, sparks hissing angrily as though mad at him for his destructive ways. Looking down, her watched as sparks exploded out of the robot's caved in face, but though he'd won (again), he felt very little satisfaction. Programmed to fight like the defeated Slade, to help him train so that he could better combat the evil mastermind, these robots, courtesy of Cyborg's genius with machines and computers, still lacked the skill and power, the _spirit_, the real Slade had owned, doing very little to help him prepare for his next encounter with the man he so hated.

"You _do_ know Slade's gone, right?"

Robin didn't need to look up to know who'd joined him in the training room, for only one member of his team had that feminine neutrality in her voice, that tone that was emotionless yet wise at the same time.

"We can't be sure about that, Raven." He responded, still not moving from his spot. "He was never captured, never found. We can't be sure of _what _happened to him. For all we know, he may still be out there, just waiting for us to drop our guard."

"He might be." The young Goth conceded. "And if he is then we _will _stop him, like we always do. Punishing yourself like this will achieve nothing, Robin; you need to let it—to let _him_—go."

"I can't do that." He countered, still not moving or looking up. "Not yet."

"You're obsessed with Slade." She responded calmly. "As long as you're focused on him, you're _not _focused on anything or anyone else, and this city will always have more enemies than just Slade."

He knew she was right, knew that she had a point, but that still didn't make it any easier. When he'd been partners with Gotham City's Dark Knight he'd faced several villains who made evil look good, some of the most dangerous beings in the world, perhaps even the galaxy. As the leader of the Teen Titans he'd fought against more villains still, but Slade…never before had he faced someone like him.

"Slade was a powerful enemy." Raven continued. "Stronger, darker, smarter, and cleverer than any _one _villain we've ever faced before, but he won't always be the strongest, or the darkest, or the smartest. We will face more enemies just as dangerous and just as determined as Slade."

"Our friend is right, Robin." A second female voice, this one brimming with innocence and kindness, added. "You have been obsessed with Slade since the day we first heard his name, and I fear now that he is gone you do not know how to let him go."

"Like I told Raven, Star, we don't know for sure if he _is _gone or not. We never found him, we-"

"But Robin," The young Tamaranian countered, cutting him off before he could finish his argument. "He fell into the pool of the lava, and Slade is only human. There is no way he could have survived."

"And even if he _did _survive, we've not heard anything from him since Terra stopped the volcano, which means either he's given up or he's having to take time off to heal himself. Either way, for the moment, he's not the threat he was." Raven paused, going silent as Robin struggled to find the perfect argument, the one word or sentence that would justify his continued pursuit of Slade. "Robin, you need to focus on new threats, because Slade's not the only dark villain ready to threaten this city."

At last something clicked into his mind, finally giving his cause to look up at Raven as he realized she sounded as though she might be trying to tell him something without telling him. He could almost see how hard she was working to tell him that she had sensed something dark closing in without coming right out to say it. Before he could open his mouth to speak, however, the lights went red as, throughout the Tower, alarm klaxons began to blare off their warning that, once again, the Teen Titans were needed.

"Titans!" He shouted, racing for the door. "Trouble!"

* * *

"There is no Emotion, there is only Peace. There is no Ignorance, there is only Knowledge. There is no Passion, there is only Serenity. There is no Chaos, there is only Harmony. There is no Death, there is only the Force."

Over and over again he repeated these words to himself, words he'd known since before he'd even known how to speak them. His eyes remained closed as he stood atop the towering building. These words were among all he had left of his old life, the life that, only a little over a year ago, had been snatched from him like an infant in the middle of the night.

Only a month from his fifteenth birthday, he'd been a Jedi Apprentice, the Padawan learner of the respected Jedi Master, Talm Zi'Kez, fighting in the Clone Wars against the Confederacy of Independent Systems and its massive droid army. And then Order 66 had been handed down directly from Chancellor Palpatine, who'd revealed himself as the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious. The clone troops the Jedi had been commanding had turned, and the Jedi had fallen.

Fifteen year-old Crix Kavar allowed his grief and sadness to fill him up as he took a deep breath before allowing it to ride out on his breath as he exhaled, and though much of that pain and grief remained he was no longer crippled by it, no longer stuck in the past. What had happened over the past year was done, and nothing could be done to change that. His old life, who he'd once been, were now galaxies away and thus no longer his concern. Here and now was where he was, and he had a job to do, his own problems to solve.

One of those problems, even now, was down on the street below, using her powers to rob the city's largest bank, a team of robotic, mechanical cronies and guards helping her load the gold and cash into a large van.

He sighed with a gentle shake of his head as he prepared to move against the girl who'd once been his friend. Like her, he'd been on Earth for just a little over a single year now, and they'd easily become accustomed to the many differences this planet had with the galaxy they'd once known. Still, that didn't make what he was about to do any easier, not by a long shot.

Before he could move, however, there was movement from the street below, and, astounded by what he was seeing, he watched in silence as five teenagers moved in to stop his target, his biggest problem, from committing her acts of crime. Deciding that he had little to lose from observing the ensuing battle, he aborted his current plan, opting instead to stand back and watch.

The five Titans moved in on the bank as one unit, one team, as though it were an action they'd practiced it a thousand times a day. The large black van was parked outside of the bank, backed up so that the back doors opened perfectly into the building's front doors. The few city police officers that had already arrived to stop the robbery were spread out across the street, most of them slumped against some object or another, having clearly lost their fight.

"Okay, ten dollars says it's Doctor Light again." Beast Boy wagered as the group approached the van, watching for the first signs of any attack that might be launched their way.

"Or," Robin countered, clearly confident that he knew who they were facing. "Slade survived."

"Dude," Cyborg responded, sounding as though the half-machine/half-human teen thought their masked leader had lost it. "He fell into a pool of _lava_. No one's surviving that."

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A mechanically-filtered voice interrupted, cutting all previous conversation off as though they'd never before even spoken. "Don't do anything stupid, now; I'd hate to get blood all over my new robes. Who _are _you, anyways?"

Looking up, the five Titans found their target standing atop the large black van, and instantly they realized it was none of their familiar targets. He was covered from head to toe in a black cloak that was large and bulky enough to give no sign to his physical figure. The only parts of his body that his cloak didn't cover were his hands, feet, and face. His feet sported black belted boots while his hands were protected by thick black gloves. His face, in turn, was covered by a black mask with a T-visor, which in turn was trimmed by a thick crimson line.

"Ummm, who _is _this guy?" Beast Boy asked, looking up at the newest criminal with large, round eyes.

"I don't know who he is." Cyborg admitted, extending his right arm as it transformed into his beloved, powerful sonic cannon. "But I know where he's going."

"We're the Teen Titans." Robin answered, pulling a trio of explosive disks from his belt. "And you're going down."

He snorted. "Wanna bet?" And then he sighed, as though he might be resigning himself to his fate. "Boys, our new friends want to pay. Keep them entertained for me while I finish up here; it'd not do well for them to interrupt our pickup."

And then, without warning, their foe flipped up and backwards, landing on the far side of the van and disappearing from sight. Before any of them could launch a pursuit, however, the _clanking _sound of several mechanical feet moving at once filled their air, and moments later large, grey robots began pouring around the van from either side, guns built into their arms now taking aim.

"Titans, go!" Robin ordered, and with those two words the fight was engaged.

Cyborg immediately opened fire with his sonic cannon, the blue column of energy ripping into a dozen of the robots with such force that parts went flying in every direction.

As Cyborg continued his destructive assault, Starfire launched herself high into the air, looping over so that she was now facing the ground before raining a flurry of her star bolts down on the robots moving towards the van to reinforce their comrades in their fight against the Titans, not giving them a chance to join the fray.

Beast Boy, in turn, bent over as the first laser shots tore into the ground at his feet, transforming instantly into a massive green-and-black Triceratops before charging forward, impaling robot after robot with his massive horns before slamming full force into the black van, sending its battered hulk flipping through the air and down the street, mowing over countless robots in the process.

Robin, with no special powers of his own, used his training and knowledge of the martial arts in conjunction with his bo staff to destroy each robotic foe as he had earlier during his interrupted training. As he landed from a somersault to avoid more laser fire, he tucked his knees in and rolled around another of the robots, pulling a handful of explosive disks from his belt as he stood back up, throwing them so that each disk impacted a different robot, sending yet more mechanical parts flying through the air.

Raven, however, wasn't interested in fighting the robots, using her powers simply to shield herself as she silently moved through the mass of robots and Titans. The cloaked figure, whoever he was, while not the source of the great darkness she'd sensed earlier, was similar to that darkness, as though they both shared the same source, tying this criminal to the danger she'd felt earlier, the threat she'd tried to warn Robin against before the alert had gone out. Whoever this person was, he was a powerful metaphysical being, and this, Raven knew, made him a threat that had to be stopped, now, before he could escape.

Slowly cutting her way through the metal robots, attacking only when absolutely necessary, she made her way to the bank's front entrance and then disappeared inside, stretching out with her senses in an effort to locate the man, an effort that, she quickly learned, was really no effort at all.

She turned to her right and silently descended a narrow staircase, her physical and metaphysical senses on the watch for the slightest sign of an ambush. However, it appeared as though she might actually catch this criminal by surprise, and, she also knew, if she caught him by surprise, then it would make stopping him that much easier.

She paused as she reached the bottom of the staircase, now just outside of the massive lobby, which housed the vaults on the far side. The darkness she'd sensed in him, while nothing nearly as powerful as what she'd felt while meditating, was still powerful enough to make him a dangerous foe, and if he was as powerful as she'd sensed, then he likely already knew she was coming.

Realizing that it was too late to turn back now, she wrapped herself inside of her powers, as though she were bundling herself inside of a warm cloak in the middle of the winter, and with a mere thought she was transformed into her namesake form, traveling below the lobby until just below the vault, and then she was through the floor, the wings of the raven spreading then as it sat her silently on the floor.

"You're powerful." He said, not turning to look at her. "I underestimated the power I sensed in you. That won't happen again."

"Who are you?" Raven asked, alert for the first sign of an assault from any direction. At this, her opponent turned around slowly, his head lowered.

"Your worst nightmare."

With no warning, with blinding speed that did nothing short of leave her breathless, his head and hands came up, the latter of which exploded with the power of a thunderstorm as a blazing web of lightening erupted forward, lashing out at Raven with only a single goal in mind.

Thanks only to years of experience and training, Raven brought a black shield of pure psychic energy up in front of, deflecting the electrical attack into sharp waves of power that lashed into the vault walls on either side, paper money now filling the air like green confetti at a downtown parade.

Laughing, he stopped his attack and just stood there, as though waiting, and then, as her shield of black, transparent energy fell, she felt a familiar blast of energy slam into her as, for the second time in one day, she was blown backwards through the air, landing on her feet and sliding backwards across the lobby.

Still laughing as Raven caught herself and stood up, he exited the vault, walking slowly towards her, clearly not feeling inclined to reengage the fight anytime soon.

"As you can see, Teen Titan, you are no match for me; your powers are far inferior to my own."

"We'll see about that." Raven countered, extending her powers out so that they covered the entire room. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

As those three words went silent the vault's heavy, armored door was suddenly enveloped in her black, transparent energy and, as though it was a sheet of paper, it was effortlessly torn from the rest of the vault before launched through the air, slamming down on top of the dark warrior, who, only by diving aside at the last moment, barely avoided certain defeat.

Even as he stood up, however, Raven was there, giving him no chance to regain his momentum as she wrapped him up in her energy and launched him into the air, slamming him against the ceiling before throwing him against the wall next to the vault entrance.

As he slumped to the ground, she again approached him, but before she could launch another attack, before she realized the danger she was in, he again looked up as again his hands extended forward.

This time his lightning attack tore into her, wrapping her in its painful embrace and tossing her across the room so that her back exploded against the steel column supporting the roof.

Before she could regain her bearings, her opponent was standing over her, his right arm extended and his hand forming a cup-like shape. And then her throat began to constrict as though a giant, invisible hand was slowly attempting to choke the life out of her, giving her no chance to ward off such raw, dark power.

"As I told you before, my powers are far superior to your own. And now, you are finished."

Raven, in response, gathered her power around her once more before allowing it to explode outwards, not only freeing her from the invisible hand but sending her foe tumbling across the floor. Her blue cloak flapped around her as she levitated herself into the air and began launching black disks of energy, similar to Starfire's star bolts, at her dark foe, who was powerless to block against such an attack.

By the time she finished her frenzy of shots, he was crumpled on the ground, not moving, giving no signs of any life aside from the weakened energy Raven could now sense inside of him. She moved forward slowly, cautiously, alert for any sign of attack, but none came. By the time she reached her foe, standing calmly over him, she was confident the fight was over.

Before another thought could enter her mind, however, a crisp, sharp handspring had her dark foe back on his feet as yet more lightning erupted from his fingers. Realizing too late the danger she was in, the first tongues of electrical energy ripped into her body even as she made to shield herself. Ignoring the brief spurt of pain, she focused all of her energies on bringing up a new shield capable of blocking the electrical attack.

Even then, though, the power of this dark warrior's attack was so strong that he was slowly pushing her black, transparent shield backwards, and would keep doing so until it was right on top of her, when, she knew, she'd have no choice but to either give ground or drop the shield altogether, and either way would almost certainly result in his attack finding its mark, and Raven also knew that he knew this. This, then, left her with only one option.

Standing her ground, the young Titan allowed her shield to be pushed ever closer to her, slowly focusing her energies back around herself, ready for the perfect moment in which to make her move…which came less than thirty seconds later.

With her shield now a mere inch from her face, she finally allowed it to fall, that energy disappearing back into her. With the blazing bolts of electricity now freely charging her, Raven closed her eyes as a titanic black raven formed around her, atomizing her entire body into particles too small to be seen.

Sinking through the lobby floor, Raven easily levitated the few feet separating where she'd been standing from her foe, and then, once she was sure she was behind him, she rose back through the lobby floor, allowing her body to rematerialize as the large raven disappeared back inside of her body.

As her foe turned around Raven brought her right foot up, catching him fully in his masked face, sending him staggering backwards, giving her just enough space to launch a blast of dark, psychic energy that blasted him into the same pillar she'd been thrown against minutes before.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

With the easiest of thoughts she wrapped that pillar in her psychic energy and constricted that energy until the pillar could no longer stand, bringing the concrete rubble crashing down on top of him with such ferocity that there was no sign he'd ever even existed.

Cautiously, still alert for any sign of danger, she moved forward towards the pile of rubble, but it appeared the fight was, for all intents and purposes, over. Still standing at the edge of the rubble, she could hear the sounds of fighting filtering through the building, clearly the signs of her friends and fellow Titans attempting to join her. She turned her head slightly to ensure that she was in no immediate danger…and too late she realized her mistake.

The debris covering her opponent exploded outwards in every direction, several large chunks of broken concrete slamming into Raven and sending her crashing through the air and to the ground in the center of the lobby.

"You're powerful, young Titan, but as I said before, your powers are insignificant next to my own abilities. And now you will witness the full power of my wrath!"

More lightning flooded from his fingers, but this time there was nothing to stop this powerful attack from finding his mark. The lightning ripped its way into Raven's body, scorching her body as her screams were drowned out by the dark mage's laughter.

It was pain the likes of which she'd never before known. Her bones were on fire, a raging inferno deep inside of her body. It felt as though a trillion and more shards of glass, razor sharp, were attacking every nerve inside of her. She could feel her eyes rolling into the back of her head as she shook violently, unable to move as the pain continued coursing through her teenage body.

With the lightning not only tearing into her but also wrapping her body so that her arms were pinned to her side, she was helpless as her foe lifted her up into the air, holding her there for several long seconds before at last killing his assault with a final blast of lightning that blasted her across the room back towards the vault.

She opened her eyes weakly just in time to see her dark foe coming to stand over her, a silver cylinder now in his gloved hands.

"You put up a fight, Teen Titan, but your sorceress's powers are no match next to the powers of the Dark Side of the Force."

_Snap-hiss._ A bar of crimson energy appeared as though summoned from thin air, jutting out of the end of that silver cylinder.

"And now, you shall die."

* * *

Crix could sense the collision of powers only a few minutes following the disappearance of the blue-cloaked girl into the bank, and though he still stood calmly atop the building, watching as the four remaining teenagers slowly reduced the number of droids providing their master with the cover she needed, he knew he had to get inside of that bank, and soon, or else his entire mission would be a failure.

Fully immersing himself in the Force, he backed up several feet before running full speed for the edge of the tower, not stopping even as the metal surface of its roof disappeared below his feet. He turned his body so that he was now falling feet first, his brown cloak and tan Jedi robes flapping violently around him in the wind. With the Force now guiding his descent, he used that power to cushion his landing so that no damage was done to his body. Ducking below a volley of misplaced blaster fire from a now-destroyed droid, he moved silently towards the bank doors, dodging the mixture of droid and Titan attacks, stopping not even to defend himself, instead allowing the Force to guide him through the treacherous maze of danger while ensuring he came to no harm.

Entering the bank, he allowed his senses to spread out through the building, giving it permission to guide his feet into leading him to where he needed to be, to find for him the would-be Dark Lord that would so effortlessly take over this entire planet.

Turning right, he ignored the sounds of battle that seemed to follow him into the bank, ignoring the so-called Teen Titans and their engagement with the super battle droids his target lorded over; neither these Titans nor the mechanical foes were of any worry to him, not now, not as he descended the staircase that he knew would lead him towards his foe, towards his primary target, towards the main reason for his continued existence.

Arriving at the foot of the stairs, he watched in silent sadness as the Sith stood over the downed blue-cloaked Titan, a red lightsaber ignited and at the ready.

"And now, you shall die."

Seizing his opportunity, Crix reached out with the Force, imagining it in his mind as an invisible hand firmly wrapping the young Titan in its embrace. As the Sith blade came crashing down on top of the young girl, he yanked with every last ounce of strength he could muster.

She came sliding towards him across the floor, causing her would-be murderer's weapon to instead dig harmlessly into the floor that had, seconds before, been under her body. As the girl's still body quickly approached the young one-time Jedi, he somersaulted forward, launching himself over her and landing so that he was standing calmly between the Titan and her Sith foe, ignoring the young girl as she began to stir.

"I'm afraid, Darth Maw, that I cannot allow you to reap anymore lives on this day. After all, _Elianna_, that'd just make things far too easy for you, now wouldn't it?"

"Crix Kavar." The dark one greeted, holding the glowing blade down at his side. "It would appear you've failed to heed my warning. Your little friend, Elianna, sha-"

"Don't." Crix barked, interrupting the Sith Lord. "Do _not _disrespect what our friendship once was by lying to me, Elianna, because I know the truth."

The dark one sighed, reaching up with his free hand to grab at the mask covering his face. In silence, with Crix watching every move he made, the dark warrior pulled the mask from his face, allowing it to fall to the floor with a brief _clank_.

The face that had previously been hidden behind that mask nearly brought a flood of tears to his eyes. Those dark brown eyes usually so full of kindness and love cracked his heart in two. Though he'd known the truth all along, a small part of him had been hoping that he was wrong, that he'd misread and misinterpreted the evidence he'd found during the course of his investigation. As she lowered her cloak's cowl, freeing shoulder-length brunette hair that had once reached her waist, though, Crix Kavar knew his greatest friendship was now taking its final breath.

"That just irks me, Crix, it really does. You never _could _leave well-enough alone, you know that? All your life you've just been too thick to know when you should turn around and walk away. How long have you known, anyways?"

"From the beginning." He answered truthfully, only slightly aware that the blue-cloaked Titan was again on her feet as he shrugged his way free of his brown cloak, leaving him now clad in nothing but his Jedi garb. "Since the day you attacked Omega Base and killed all of our friends."

She growled, her simmering anger boiling through the Force as it began to fill up her young body and the soul within. "What gave me away?"

"You truly tried, Ellie, I'll give you that." He answered. "The efforts you put into making it seem like an outside assault were astounding…had you not _murdered _our friends I might even be impressed. That's the thing, though; you _tried_. As Master Yoda says, try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

"_What _gave me away?" She repeated.

"The attack itself." Crix answered simply. "You attacked the base from the outside, forcing your way through the doors and security barriers. It certainly _looked _like an outside attack. But all security measures had been shut off prior to the assault, from the _inside_, using _your _clearance codes. The bodies were riddled with blaster marks from your droid units, but they all bore unmistakable signs of being cut by the blade of a lightsaber.

"And then there was the message you left, the one where _Darth Maw _said that if I tried finding him that you would die. It was certainly a nice touch, but I put the pieces of the puzzle together, Elianna. I know what you did, and now I want to know _why_?"

"Look at what millennia of Jedi training got us, Crix. Look at where centuries of Jedi tradition have lead your beloved Order; ninety-five percent of our number has been wiped from the face of the universe by someone we saw as an ally and the rest are now in hiding like the cowards they are! Jedi are so afraid of the Dark Side that it's kept them from being able to do what must be done to vanquish their enemies. A Sith has no such hesitations."

"Perhaps, Elianna, but the Sith haven't fared much better through the course of history." Crix countered. "For nearly five thousand years they've risen up to seize power, only to end up having their entire empire sent crawling back to the shadows by a redeemed Jedi or a lone Jedi exile or a single master forced into hiding. Regardless of who brings them down, the Sith fall time and time again."

"Yes, but not once in our history have the Sith ever been burned out. No matter what happens, the Jedi have never succeeded in holding the Sith down."

"You're right. But I know one Sith who won't be around to contribute to that dark order for much longer."

She laughed. "Come now, Crix, do you honestly expect me to think you can bring yourself to cut me down? I'm your best friend, after all." She mocked, taking a step towards him. "We've been closer than just friends since before we were younglings, back before we could even talk. You _love _me, Crix Kavar, and you know it, just like you know you'll never be strong enough to bring yourself to cut me down."

"The Jedi Order may be a lifetime and a galaxy away, Elianna, but it changes nothing. You've embraced the dark teachings of the Sith, and as long as I live I'll remain a Jedi, and I'm taking you down." He reached down to his waist and unclipped the silver hilt from his waste. A weapon he'd had since before Geonosis, before he'd become a Padawan, it was a training weapon reconfigured by his master to full power for a Padawan who'd never had the chance to construct his own saber.

_Snap-Hiss._

"Elianna," He addressed as the emerald blade sprouted from his weapon's hilt, now slightly aware that the four remaining Titans had joined him and their wounded friend. "You're under arrest."

"So you'll be a Jedi for as long as you live, huh?" She asked, bringing her blade up parallel to her side in a class Jedi Ready stance. "Well, let's see if I can't free you from that horrible curse!"

With those words she charged forward, her brown eyes suddenly shifty to a horrific red iris surrounded by what almost seemed to be orange flames, her blade swinging wildly in a heave downwards strike designed to cleave him in half. Crix, however, was ready. A student of the Form III style of lightsaber combat, known more commonly as Soresu, he calmly brought his blade up horizontally above his head, catching her weapon perfectly in the center of its length.

She withdrew her blade away from him as she spun around, her deadly weapon now coming in from his right in a blow just as powerful as the first, this one designed to cut him in half at the waist. Again, however, he had his weapon in position and ready, catching the assault perfectly before it could get close enough to find its mark.

Roaring in anger, she somersaulted backwards to put some distance between them, and the moment her feet touched the ground she charged forward with an amazing burst of speed, her blade cutting, chopping, and swinging angrily from every direction. A practitioner of Form I, or Shii-Cho, her blade's movements were simple in nature, fueled by her emotions, one reason the form was considered so potentially dangerous. Despite the apparent frenzy to her movements, however, Crix had sparred with his old friend so many times he easily knew where each attack would be even as she launched it, allowing him to stand his ground as he merely blocked each assault.

For nearly ten minutes, the assault continued in this form, the young would-be Sith launching a flurry of crazed assaults so fast her saber was but a crimson sheet of energy, while Crix's green bar of plasma stayed near his body, moving only where and when it was needed to block a would-be lethal blow.

Crix smiled as his fallen friend at last broke off her flurry of assaults, her blade at the ready as she studied him. One of the reasons he favored Soresu over the six other forms was that it was a purely defensive technique, allowing him to conserve his energy and withstand an enemy's assault while that enemy drained their energy reserves, leaving him refreshed and ready while they were tired and battered, and, judging by the way Elianna's chest heaved in and out rapidly, it had succeeded once again.

"As many times as we've sparred, I should have known better than to try that." She confessed, sounding more angry at herself now than anything else as Crix mildly realized he'd slowly maneuvered himself to the far side of the room.

"Let go of your hatred and anger, Elianna." Crix pleaded, keeping his eyes on his foe. "You've done horrible things in the name of the Sith, but it's not too late. Jedi have turned from the darkness and found redemption before, and you can too."

"I'm not that weak!" She spat angrily, again moving towards him.

"Don't do it, Ellie." He warned. "I've already won this bout…I know you too well for you to be able to effectively combat me, and you know it."

"Your arrogance blinds you, _Padawan_, and now you will pay for your lack of vision!"

Stopping only a foot from him, she raised her crimson blade and brought it down onto the floor, sending a powerful blast of Force energy directly into him with such force that it sent him flying through the air.

Realizing the danger he was now in, he used his powers to right himself as he landed, his lit lightsaber still in his left hand. As he landed, he looked up to find he was now in the center of the lobby. Spinning around to face the threat of the fallen Jedi he was now facing, he found himself staring down a spinning, glowing-red lightsaber. Using the momentum he'd gathered from spinning around, he jumped up so that his body was parallel with the ground, the spinning blade cutting just below his body, coming so close he was afraid it might have cut some of the fabric of his tunic.

Before he could again right himself, Elianna again hit him with a blast of Force energy, sending him crashing helplessly across the room until his spine found one of the remaining concrete pillars holding up the ceiling.

As he slumped to the ground, he looked up weakly to realize Elianna was now launching herself through the air even as her lightsaber slapped back into her hand, the crimson blade now angled directly for his head. Waiting until the last possible moment to make his move, he used the Force to pick himself up and launch himself over and behind her, her saber's blade digging harmlessly into the floor once more. As he landed, on his feet once more, he called his fallen saber to his hand once more, now holding it in a reverse Shien grip that he rarely ever used. His second Form of choice, Shien was almost identical to Soresu save for the fact that it allowed for counter-attacks.

Even as Elianna spun around, Crix was on top of her, now launching his own flurry of cuts and slashes that forced her onto the defensive, something Elianna wasn't much accustomed to.

Unfortunately, however, it wasn't something Crix was used to either, at least, not when facing an opponent wielding a lightsaber as well, and it happened to be something Elianna immediately realized and capitalized on. Sidestepping his latest attack, she brought her foot up and into his wrist with such power that he was unable to stop his lightsaber from falling to the ground. Taking advantage of him now being unarmed, she blasted him with a third wave of Force energy, again pushing him back.

As he regained his momentum he looked up…just in time to be met with a blast of Force Lightning that sent him to the ground, screaming in agony. He'd felt this pain before, at the hands of his old master. Talm Zi/Kez had been among the only Jedi able to use Force Lightning without suffering the dark effects, and he'd long ago taught his apprentice how to defend himself from it. And here, now, still overwhelmed by Elianna's sudden rise in power, the memory of his master, his father figure, rose into his mind, and instantly his training kicked into high gear.

"Titans-"

At the sound of the young male's voice, Crix went silent, gathering the Force around him in preparations to defend himself from this signature Sith attack.

"NO!" He roared, raising his hands and using the Force to keep the electricity from his body. "Do _NOT _interfere!"

Taking some slight comfort in the astounded look on her face, Crix forced himself back to his feet, the Force-generated lightning still sparking across the room only to disappear into his hands.

"Surprised, Elianna? You really shouldn't be. My master treated me like a son; you should have _known _he'd teach me how to block his favorite attack."

Realizing the assault would do nothing but drain more of her energy, she stopped, and as the last of the lightning disappeared into Crix's hands, he closed them briefly before opening them back up and releasing all of the stored energy back out at Elianna, who, in turn, again unleashed her own power, causing the miniature thunderstorm to crash into the ceiling above, which then collapsed, opening up a rather large hole in the ceiling and the floor of the room above.

"You may have stopped me today, Crix, but the next time we meet you _will _become one with the Force!"

Before Crix could stop her, the girl vaulted up through the hole in the ceiling, but by the time Crix followed suit she was nowhere to be seen, nor were any of her operational droid units. Sighing with a shake of his head, Crix silenced his lightsaber and returned the hilt to his waist before activating the homing device built into his comlink.

"Dude, you rock!" The green-skinned Titan cheered as the Teen Titans, too, climbed up through the hole in the floor.

"Yes, most impressive." The red-haired girl agreed as she clapped her hand.

"Who are you, and who was she?" the black-haired masked leader of the group asked, stepping towards Crix. Though he initially felt a spurt of anger at their glee over his fight with his lost friend, he quickly let that anger go. They couldn't understand what had happened, nor was that their fault.

"You," He said, turning his attention to the blue-cloaked girl. "Need to go home and rest, at least for a full twenty-four hour period. That Force Lightning she hit you with will calcify your bones if your body can't be given time to fully heal itself. Trust me, I know from experience."

As his words cut off the wind around the front door picked up, causing his Jedi garb to again flap rapidly around his body, and turning around Crix found himself face-to-face with his Delta-7 Jedi Interceptor, the same craft he'd flown through the entirety of the Clone Wars, with his R4 unit in its socket just forward of the cockpit. He jumped up onto the bow of his fighter, stopping just long enough to speak one more sentence.

"If you encounter Lady Maw again, I would advise you against fighting her, lest you wish to suffer a slow and painful demise at the hands of an ancient evil."

Then, ignoring their stares and open mouths, he jumped over the canopy and seated himself effortlessly into the cockpit, grabbing the control yoke and aiming streaking for the sky, not once looking back.

* * *

"That was…weird, yes?" Starfire asked, her green eyes never leaving the shrinking speck of the mysterious boy or his ship.

"Dude, who _was_ that?" Beast Boy asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"I don't know." Raven answered, using her powers to bring the boy's discarded brown cloak up to her. "But I'm going to find out."

"First, though, we're getting you back to the Tower." Cyborg explained, crossing his arms over his robotic chest.

"I'm fine."

"Cyborg has a point, Raven." Robin countered. "When Maw strikes again we need to be at a hundred percent."

"I _said _I'm fine!" Raven repeated, and with those four words she stormed between Cyborg and Robin, making her way alone and silence for Titan's Tower, leaving her friends looking between themselves in utter confusion.

"I _don't _know who you are," Raven muttered, looking down, staring at the brown cloak. "But I _will _find out."

* * *

**Okay, so be honest, what did you guys think? Did ya'll like it? Click review below and tell me what you thought. **

**Well, if I get enough reviews wanting to see more, the next chapter should be up pretty soon, and if not...well, you get the picture. Also, if you'd like to see my original works of visit, feel free to visit my website at the website listed on my profile page here. **

**Until next time...**


	2. Aftermath (Part I)

**Okay, it's been five days, and I've only had a few reviews, but, I figured what the hey? There are a few people who want to read the next chapter, so, without further ado, here it is. And please remember, I do _not _own the _Teen Titans_, nor do I own _Star Wars. _Now, on with the show!**

* * *

**ADDITIONAL STORIES BY **Guardian Kitch**:**

_**Star Wars Episode Zero: Trials of the Jedi **__**(Star Wars)**_

_**Gates to Terabithia (Bridge to Terabithia)**_

_**Star Wars: Jedi Wasteland (Star Wars/Star Wars: The Clone Wars)**_

_**Sins of the Father (Harry Potter)**_

_**Harry Potter and the Labyrinth of Evil (Harry Potter)**_

_**Pokémon: Crisis Point (Pokémon)**_

* * *

_**Chapter Two: Aftermath (Part I)**_

As the sun began to set on the western horizon, blue-cloaked Raven stood hundreds of feet above the ground, high atop the flat roof of the T-shaped building known simply as Titan's Tower. Several long hours had passed following their encounter with the dark warrior and the equally mysterious knight who'd shown up to stop her, and _still _the Titans knew nothing about either of them.

Raven closed her eyes, looking down at the roof of her home as she took several long, deep breaths to calm herself. Though she'd not followed the advice of the young teen who'd told her to go home and get some rest, she _had _used some of her magic to check herself over, both physically and metaphysically, and she'd learned that, as per his words, her bones really had begun to show signs of calcification, forcing her to put herself into a three hour-long medical trance to stop and reverse the process.

She sighed, opening her dark blue eyes once more, only to stare silently out across the great bay, watching as the sun dipped further towards the horizon.

"She's the one you were trying to warn me about earlier today." Robin stated, stepping closer to stand at her side. "When you said Slade wouldn't be the strongest or the darkest enemy we've ever faced, you were talking about her…you were trying to warn me."

"I _was _trying to warn you, but she's not the one I was talking about."

"She wasn't?"

"No." Raven answered with a gentle shake of her head, still staring out across the western horizon. "Earlier, while I was meditating, I sensed a great darkness coming towards the city, like a storm off in the distance that grows strong as it comes closer. She…wasn't that powerful. Her powers were _of _that darkness, but not the source."

"She has a master." Robin declared. "Whoever's using her is much more powerful."

"Perhaps." Raven said slowly. "Or perhaps it's a rivalry, and her presence here is attracting someone stronger and darker."

"Slade nearly destroyed us and conquered the city." The masked leader of the Teen Titans explained. "The last thing any of us need right now is a three-way power war with us caught in the middle."

"The boy that fought her, Crix…I don't think he's part of it."

"I saw what happened, Raven; the two of them clearly know each other…their fight was too personal for them not to."

"It's…not that. Their powers and presence are similar, but his doesn't have any of the darkness like hers does."

"Are you…are you trying to say he could help us?"

"Maybe, or maybe he's interested in his own goals…I can't say for sure."

"When they strike again, we'll be ready." Robin said, his voice now taking on that determined edge his friends had long become accustomed to. "In the meantime, you should be getting some-"

"I'm fine." Raven cut off, already having anticipated his orders for her to rest.

"But if wha-"

"He was right." She said, again correctly anticipating the young teen's thoughts and words. "My bones were beginning to calcify from her attack, but I was able to use a healing trance to reverse the effects. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded her head, again closing her eyes as she lowered her head.

"Earlier…why'd you run off and leave us?" He asked, again changing the subject. "Why did you try and confront her alone?"

At first the young gothic Titan failed to respond, leaving them both in the quiet as she thought his question through, wondering if she should perhaps tell him the truth, a truth, she knew, that might not quit satisfy the young hero. The truth was, she confessed to herself, she had no idea why she'd confronted the girl on her own, why she'd not helped the others destroy her mechanical army before taking her on as one united team, the way they'd always done things. Opening her eyes, she looked back out across the great body of water, her words well-chosen and deliberate as they left her mouth.

"I followed my instincts."

"Your instincts?" He asked, and even without turning to look at him, Raven knew she'd caused him to raise an eyebrow at her explanation.

"I can't explain it." She responded. "But there was something calling me down there to her, something I don't even understand."

"Just be careful next time." Robin warned. "Help arrived just in time today, but the next time you might not be so lucky."

"Have you had any luck finding out who he was?" Raven asked, tactfully changing the subject, unwilling to get into a discussion on just how close her fight with Maw had been. Robin, in response, shook his head.

"He's not in any local or national databanks." He explained. "Even with such an unusual name, we can't find anything on him. Cyborg's running security footage of him through facial recognition programs now, but we don't expect to find anything…on either of them."

"Maybe it's because he's not from Earth." Raven explained slowly, replaying the day's earlier events over in her mind. "He told Maw 'The Jedi Order may be a lifetime and a galaxy away…'; what if he's from a different galaxy?"

"That would be…impossible." Starfire added, suddenly joining in the conversation. "Even on my world, travel between the galaxies cannot be accomplished."

"Star's right, Raven." Cyborg added, joining in. "We're still learning about traveling between planets of our own galaxy…no one has the technology to travel from one galaxy to the other."

"That we know of." Robin defended. "Who knows what kind of technology another galaxy might have?"

"I've created an entry into the Titan's database for both of them." Cyborg continued. "The next time either of them show up, we'll know about it."

"And we'll be ready." Robin finished, taking a step away from Raven as he turned to regard Cyborg and Starfire. "Where's Beast Boy?"

"To see Terra."

"Yes." Starfire confirmed, her voice taking on a sad undertone. "I believe our friend was feeling a little bit of the down today."

"Of course he was feeling down." Raven responded. "Beast Boy loved Terra; even at her darkest point he never gave up hope for her, even when _we _did."

"Perhaps we should join our friend and make sure he is okay."

"Beast Boy'll be fine, Starfire." Robin answered. "He just needs some time."

"But his heart has been broken, and-"

"Star, Robin's right." Cyborg interrupted. "We need to let BB have his space."

* * *

Well off to the north, meanwhile, Jedi apprentice Crix Kavar was hot on the trail of the girl who'd once been his best friend.

Following their encounter earlier that day at the bank in Jump City, Crix had begun putting together his plan of action, a battle plan designed to stop Elianna from her power-hungry conquest by any means necessary.

Though she'd not known it, he'd found her Eta-2 _Actis-_class Interceptor, a much more advanced craft than his older Delta-7 _Aethersprite_-class Interceptor, and he'd stealthily planted a homing device on the craft's hull, leaving it in a place she'd likely never find it, so that in the event he was unable to defeat her he could still follow her and challenge her again, when she least expected it.

That, then, was what had led the young Jedi to the range of mountains known as the Rocky Mountains, where he'd then discovered the fallen Jedi had set up a fully-operational base of her own, patrolled by squadrons of battle droids and destroyer droids, vintage leftovers from the Clone Wars that, somehow, she'd managed to reprogram and reactivate. The only question he had an answer to now, he reminded himself, was _how _she'd managed to deploy transport them from their home galaxy here to Earth, a problem that, once he finished up here, he'd have to rectify.

Thanks to three years of nonstop warfare against the droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, he'd long-ago learned how to evade detection by the droid units when infiltrating an enemy base. With his head down and his cloak drawn tightly around him, the young Jedi allowed himself to become the very shadows in which he hid, avoiding coming close enough to the droids to let their photoreceptors pick up his signature while using the Force to home in on Elianna, who'd since adopted the Sith moniker of Darth Maw.

Coming up to a four-way intersection deep inside of the base, he stopped and backed up several feet, again blending into the shadows just as a full dozen super battle droids came marching into view, stopping in the center of the intersection as they began to turn and scan in each direction. Reaching out with the Force, Crix latched onto a series of pipes and cables running along the length of the ceiling several yards down the corridor, and with utter ease he nudged the wires just enough to make them bang against the sturdier pipes. Instantly, in perfect, simultaneous unity, the droids turned and took off in the direction of the disturbance, their wrist blasters extended and ready to open fire on a moment's notice.

Once he was sure the squad of super battle droids were out of range, he rushed forward to the center of the intersection where the four corridors converged. Reaching out with the Force once more, he looked up and latched onto the grate situated directly above his head, pulling it free of the air duct and setting it gently and quietly onto the floor at his feet. Wasting no time, he propelled himself into the air, boosted by the powers that had made the Jedi Knights the fabled beings they'd become. Catching himself on the edge of the inside of the ducts, he pulled himself up and out of sight before turning around and using the Force to return the grate to its original position, making sure it was safe and secure before he began making his way forward through the lair once more.

According to the schematics he'd stolen upon his entry into the underground base, he was now in the central ventilation system, which, in turn, would take him through the base to any room of his choosing, including the Combat Information Center, the command center that, according to her Force presence, was where Elianna was currently working from. Of course, Crix reminded himself, that didn't necessarily mean she was alone. Though there were no other sentient presences in the base that he could find, the Force could not be used to sense droids, of which there seemed to be hundred, perhaps even thousands, and the self-proclaimed Lady of the Sith would certainly have a guard detail of at least super battle droids, perhaps even the more feared and lethal droidekas, or, as they were better known, destroyer droids, which, in turn, would make Crix's job all that more difficult.

He pushed those thoughts out of his head, focusing now on his main objective, allowing the Force to once more dictate his movements and the path he took, trusting that it was bringing him ever closer to Elianna and the destiny the two seemed to share.

After nearly half an hour, just as he was beginning to second guess his path, Crix found himself quite suddenly at a dead end, looking down into a massive control room lit from wall to wall with control panels and various instruments, and, to his relief, in the middle of the room, standing at a holoprojector-equipped table, stood a cloaked figure he knew all too well. It was the towering figure being projected atop the holo-table, however, that _really _caught the young Jedi's attention.

_"You've done well, Lady Maw. Once my fleets are prepared, I'll order them through the relays into this _Milky Way_ galaxy, and then you may begin your conquest of the galaxy in my name."_

"I live only to serve you, Lord Sidious." Elianna answered. "I assure you, this galaxy possesses nothing capable of stopping the Imperial fleets from achieving victory. And, once I've earned my place at your side, I will destroy Lord Vader and take my place as your rightful apprentice, and then, one day, my lord, once you've taught me everything I know, I will take my place as the Dark Lady of the Sith."

_"I find your ambition encouraging, child. Prove yourself to me, Lady Maw, and you may well one day replace Vader as my apprentice. Did my package arrive?"_

"He did, my master."

_"Have you activated him?"_

"I have, my lord."

_"Then no surviving Jedi nor anyone else will be capable of standing against you."_

"I have your approval to proceed then, Lord Sidious?"

The blue, shimmering image of Emperor Palpatine, known again as the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, nodded its head.

_"Wipe them out…all of them."_

As the holographic image of the man responsible for the destruction of the Jedi Order disappeared, Crix felt his heart sinking into his stomach. Though he'd known Elianna had fallen, he'd refused to accept that she'd gone this far. To go power-hungry for conquest and domination was one thing…it was something countless Jedi had been tempted by in the past twenty-five thousand years. However, to willingly join the man who'd destroyed the Jedi Order and murdered the Galactic Republic, to happily serve the being responsible for destroying their families and their lives, was something completely different. This, Crix knew, was as far as any Jedi could ever fall, as low as any sentient being could possibly sink.

A new breed of determination filling him up, Crix prepared to open the grate below him, ready to drop down into the CIC and do whatever it might take to stop the young Sith adept. Before he could, however, a new image replaced the vanished projection of Darth Sidious.

Even below his cloak, Crix could tell this being wasn't human, and, deciding to postpone his confrontation with Elianna, he silently studied the newcomer. Almost immediately, however, he realized what species this being belong to.

"It can't be." He muttered, his blood freezing over inside of his veins. "He's a Sith. He's a true, original Sith."

Having mastered the Jedi Archives even as a Temple-bound apprentice, Crix had done plenty of studies on the original Sith as a species. According to his studies, the Sith Lords had begun as Dark Jedi exiled from the Order and the Republic over twenty-two thousand years before. The fallen Knights and apprentices had settled on worlds such as Korriban and Ziost, planets inhabited by a reptilian species known as the Sith. Interbreeding with the Sith, the Dark Jedi had begun referring to themselves as Dark Lords _of _the Sith, and thus the Dark Empire of the Sith had been born. However, according to all Jedi texts and data, the Sith as a species had died off nearly three thousand years ago, only a handful being left following the Treaty of Coruscant and the ensuing Galactic Cold War. For one to be here, on Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy…a sudden chill began to traverse his spine as the young Jedi realized what this might mean.

_"I trust, Maw, that by contacting me you're telling me you have results."_

"I do, my lord."

_"Well, on with it already!"_

"Palpatine has sent a very useful tool in our battle against Crix Kavar and his new allies."

_"The same tool we discussed previously?"_

"Yes, master."

_"And Sidious suspects no treachery?"_

"None at all, Lord Vector. Darth Sidious believes me to be currently too weak and eager for knowledge to betray him, nor does he have any inkling of your existence."

_"Very good, Maw. Tell me, though; how do _I _know you're not secretly betraying me to this Lord Sidious?"_

"Because, my lord, I'm not that stupid." Elianna explained. "If Emperor Palpatine finds out what I'm doing before our plans are ready to move forward, he will make me pay for what I've done with my life; I will die a slow, painful death the likes of which my mind cannot imagine. If I betray you, though, you _will _find out, and as you've already taught me, my master, there are fates worse than mere death."

_"Do not dare forget that."_

"What's next, Lord Vector, now that we have all the necessary pieces to begin our campaign?"

_"You must first prove yourself worthy of my teachings. You must earn the right to become my apprentice."_

Elianna, in response, dropped to one knee and bowed her head, and as she dropped to her knees, Crix felt his heart shattering as its fractured remains sank to the bottom of his feet.

"What is thy bidding, my master?"

_"Crix Kavar and these _Teen Titans _could be our downfall if they discover the extent of our plans before we are ready. We must not allow them to stand against us."_

"Crix is powerful; had the Jedi Order survived the Clone Wars he might one day have become a leading member of the Jedi High Council, perhaps even made Grand Master. But the Jedi have fallen and he is among the last of its survivors…there are none left who could finish his training. He's been isolated in a foreign galaxy, alone and outnumbered; I would hardly consider him a threat to our plans, my lord."

_"Keep thinking like that and you'll be dead before dusk." _Vector, the true Sith, spat. _"You know the boy better than anyone, child, and you, of all people, should know what he is capable of, no matter how weak or alone he might be. Even now, he might be inside of your base, coming to finish what he began today."_

"Crix Kavar has no idea where I'm at, my master. And besides, my Lord Vector, your powers could destroy him, easily. You are the strongest Sith to have ever lived."

_"I have been in a Force Stasis for four thousand years, child. Though my powers are superior to yours, I must continue resting for an indefinite future if I am to truly rule both galaxies. Though I could easily destroy you both together with a mere thought, it would cost me more than I'm willing to spend to actively combat the boy and his allies. It is up to _you_, child, to destroy them in my stead. Do this, and you will have earned my teachings and your chance at seizing the mantle of Dark Lord of all the Sith from me."_

"I look forward to it, my lord."

_"Go forward, Maw, and destroy Crix Kavar and the Teen Titans, by any means necessary. Leave no survivors. Do what must be done; do not hesitate, show no mercy. Make them beg for their lives."_

"My master, I am curious…if Crix could be turned, he would make an excellent ally."

_"Oh?"_

"As you yourself have said, he is powerful; all he needs is more training. If he were to train at our sides, the conquest of this planet and both galaxies would be that much quicker."

_"Perhaps, child, you are suggesting that we turn him _not _because he could help us but because you still love him and are hoping that, even in the darkness of the Sith Empire, you can be with him."_

"N-not a-at all, L-Lord Vector." She stammered quickly. "Elianna Talia loved Crix, my lord, but Darth Maw cares nothing for him-"

_"_DO _not lie to me, child. Your feelings for him are strong. If you wish to become a Sith Master, you must become stronger than those feelings. You must make a sacrifice to our Order if you wish to prove yourself worthy. Destroy the thing you love the most, _Elianna Talia, _or else you will never be a Sith."_

"O-of course, my master."

_"Do not fail me."_

And with those four simple, foreboding words, the shimmering blue image of Darth Vector was gone, leaving Elianna alone with the super battle droids now surrounding her. Deciding it was now time to act, now determined to stop the power-hungry Sith apprentice, Crix used the Force to catch the grate as he kicked it away from the duct, levitating it and holding it high above the droids and their master while he jumped down, simultaneously using the Force to cushion his landing so that it went unnoticed…or so he thought.

"Don't you know it's not nice to eavesdrop on a girl's private conversations?"

Realizing his cover had long ago been blown, Crix dropped the grate to the ground as the dozens of super battle droids whirled around, their wrist blasters suddenly trained perfectly on every inch of his form.

"Honestly, Elianna, I thought you were a lot smarter than this. Playing two of the most powerful Sith Lords in history, one of whom doesn't even know the other exists, against one another…there's no way you'll survive the fallout."

"_If _Emperor Palpatine realizes what I'm doing, I'll make him believe it was part of my plan all along to hand him the last remaining survivor of the Sith species, and I will then take my place as his apprentice. When Lord Vector and I destroy Palpatine and that puppet of his, Skywalker, I will take my place as his apprentice. Either way, _I _will become the most powerful Sith in history. It's a win-win for me."

"Darth Vector…he's a true Sith, a member of the original species."

She nodded her head. "The most powerful and oldest Sith Lord in history…he was alive even before Darth Revan and Darth Malek…even before Exar Kun."

"He said he'd been in a Force Stasis…how'd he wake up?"

"I found him." She explained casually. "And, realizing what he was, what he could offer me, I woke him up and pledged myself to his teachings…his powers will soon be mine."

"It's not too late to walk away, Ellie." Crix pleaded, hoping the use of her childhood nickname, a nickname only he'd ever been allowed to use, would help cut through the darkness to what remained of his best friend. Instead, though, she laughed.

"You're funny, Crix, you truly are."

"I'm being serious, Ellie." He responded. "It's not too late to turn your back on the Sith and the Dark Side, to come with me and make amends for what you've done. You have done horrible things, Elianna, committed terrible crimes, but I forgive you, and the Force forgives you. Please," He begged. "It's not too late."

She sighed as she lowered her head, her voice now weak, fragile, the voice of the girl he'd once called his best friend.

"I've gone too far, Crix…for me, there will never be any return."

"Yes, there will, if you let it." He countered, suddenly hopeful he might be on the verge of breaking through. "Please, Ellie…don't give up."

"Elianna Talia is dead, Crix, and you will now join her."

With a nudge of the Force, Crix brought his lightsaber into his hand, ready to ignite the weapon on a moment's notice.

"I refuse to waste my time with such a weak opponent." She declared, somersaulting away towards what Crix remembered was marked on the schematics as a side elevator. "Destroy him!"

As wrist blasters and blaster rifles whirred, suddenly locked and loaded for combat, Crix turned around, igniting his emerald blade as he took stock of the situation, slightly alarmed by the four MagnaGuards deliberately approaching him, electro-staffs hissing and sparking as they prepared for combat.

"Back away!" A mechanically-induced voice roared, instantly causing all droids, even the four MagnaGuards to stop dead in their tracks. "I will deal with this Jedi slime myself!"

Spinning around, Crix found himself suddenly staring down what he realized was the useful tool Elianna had mentioned before, black mechanical armor making him look more fearsome than he had the few times Crix and his master had encountered him before during the wars.

"What, no way!" He ejaculated, unable to help himself as that tool began to laugh a maniacal sound. "You're supposed to be dead, General Grievous!"

Realizing the danger he was in, knowing he'd be unable to defeat the resurrected Kaleesh general _and _his droids, Crix used his free right hand to pull his comlink free of his belt.

"Skipper, it's Crix." He said calmly, accepting his fate as he kept his eyes on the approaching Grievous. "Get out of here, now. Go find help and bring them back here to finish the mission for me."

A series of beeps and whistles.

"No buddy, there's no escape for me this time. It was nice knowing you, my friend."

More beeps and whistles.

"Get out of here, now! Go, before they can stop you!"

Returning the comlink to his belt, he twirled his lightsaber and took the classic Form III stance, with his lightsaber over and perpendicular to his head, ready to accept whatever fate the Force had for him.

* * *

Alone and in silence in the deepest depths of Titans Tower, Robin carefully placed the last of the boxes containing all of the artifacts collected from their battles with Slade into its proper place in the massive mess that was their evidence archives. Though he still had reservations about the man's destruction, the day's previous events had persuaded him that, for now, Slade, gone or not, was no longer the threat he once was.

Once done, he walked back to the door, stopping as he turned around to look back in the room. Part of his mind, he confessed silently, had half-expected to see Slade standing there, mocking him for not being more prepared. As he stood there, however, nothing happened, no sudden attack to confirm that his suspicions were correct. Taking a deep breath, he turned the lights off, and, once the door had sealed shut and the proper security measures were in place, he turned and made his way back up through the tower until, at last, he was in the empty common room, standing at the massive windows and looking out at the starry night.

It felt like a lifetime ago since he'd left the mentor that had become like a second father to him, since he'd walked away from Gotham City in an effort to step out from behind the shadow that was the growing legend of the Batman. It also felt like forever since he'd first met his four best friends and fellow Titans, that night Starfire had wrecked part of the city in her desperate attempt to flee would-be alien kidnappers, the night the five of them had first stood together to protect the city they now called home, and though he was still only a teenager, the young hero felt suddenly far older than his body showed.

"Robin," A soft, gentle female voice addressed, breaking his solace. "You are…troubled, yes?"

"I'm fine, Star." He answered, looking up at the reflection of the young Tamaranian through the massive windows.

"I'm sorry, Robin, but I know you to well…you are not fine."

He sighed, saying nothing has he wondered how best to handle his friend's worries. Of the Titans, Starfire, the very first foe they'd ever battled as a unit, was his closest friend and confidant, if one could call her that. She knew more about and understood him better than anyone else this side of the Mississippi River, and even if lying to her was easy, it was almost impossible to muster up the heart to do so.

"Tell me, Robin," She prodded gentle, hovering ever closer to him. "Is it Slade that troubles you?"

"I've never fought anyone like him." Robin found himself saying. "Never, in all the years I've spent fighting crime, have I ever come across someone like Slade. Not even before, in Gotham City…ever since the HIVE Academy took over the Tower, he's been the main focus of all our battles. Cinderblock, Overload, Plasmus, Dr. Light, Mumbo, Mad Mod, Killer Moth, Johnny Rancid…none of the villains we've ever faced has brought us as close to destruction as Slade did…none of them ever pushed us as far as he did."

"But Robin, Slade is gone. Terra defeated him when she activated the volcano."

"I know, Star, but part of me still thinks he's out there, waiting for us to drop our guard. We've spent so much time fighting him, trying to stop his master plan, that now that he's gone it's almost like I don't even know what to do."

"But you _do _know what to do, Robin." The young alien girl countered. "You're still our leader, yes? You still help us kick the butt, stop the bad guys, and-."

"It was just an expression, Starfire." Robin answered with a laugh as he turned around, holding his hands up as though he might be indicating surrender.

"Oh."

"I-I suppose it'll take some getting used to," Robin continued, turning back around to again look out over the great bay. "Not having to worry about what Slade's up to now, or what he's planning next."

"But that's the problem, Robin." Starfire explained. "I'm afraid Slade's become a part of you. I fear you'll never be able to stop worrying about Slade and whether or not he will make the return."

"You're right, Starfire." Robin said with a nod of his head. "But that doesn't I have to let that worry, that fear, run my life, keep me from focusing on what's in front of me."

As he went silent, Robin turned around, stopping as he came face-to-face with Starfire once more.

"Starfire," He began, not knowing what was making him do this, not understanding why he was about to do and say something he almost never did, words he almost never spoke. He couldn't explain it other than that it felt like the right thing to do. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" She asked, looking as confused as she sounded. "For what are you sorry, Robin?"

"Everything." He explained, taking a tentative step towards her. "Ever since Slade showed up I've…not been myself."

"I do not understand." She confessed. "If you have not been yourself, then who-"

"I let Slade get to me, Star. Even when we've been chasing after the other villains, my mind's always been on Slade and how to stop him. To stop Slade I've crossed lines I never crossed before; I became the very thing we always fight. I guess," He mused, looking down at the floor. "In my desperation to stop him, part of me _became _Slade. You said it yourself, Star, back when I became Red X; Slade didn't trust me, and I didn't trust you."

"You and Slade _are _similar, Robin, in many ways. Powerful, smart, resourceful, determined, and untrusting. But you are also different, and I think that is what really matters. You did what you did to protect the city, right or wrong-"

"Two wrongs don't make a right, Starfire. I'm supposed to be the hero, but how can you or the others, how can the city, trust me if I cross the line between good and bad?"

"You are our friend, Robin. What you did was…wrong, but you know that, and you've made up for the Red X. Your friends forgive you, Robin, because that is what friends do."

"What about you?" Robin asked, taking another step towards Starfire. "Do _you _forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you!" She exclaimed excitedly, rushing forward and grabbing the young hero in a hug so powerful that it drove the oxygen from his lungs.

"Ummm…thanks, Star." He said, gasping for fresh air as he weakly returned the gesture. Before he could say anything else, before he had the chance to free himself of the girl's grip, however, his communicator began to beep its loud warning, causing Starfire to instantly relinquish her hold on her friend, allowing Robin to grab his communicator and flip the device open.

"Report." He demanded, secretly glad for the distraction.

_ "Uh, Robin, you and Star might wanna come up to the roof." _Cyborg answered back in a tone Robin knew all too well.

"What is it?"

_"Something you might wanna see." _The half-mechanical Titan answered cryptically.

"We're on our way. Robin out."

* * *

"Hey Terra." The green-skinned human addressed, looking up helplessly at the stone statue that had once been a cute, kind young girl. "I know it's been a few days, but I just wanted to come say hi, see how you're doing and everything."

No response.

"The city's returning to normal." He explained, not really planning out his words ahead of time. "Robin's still obsessed with finding Slade, but we all know you took him down for good."

Still no response. Beast Boy sighed.

"I know this is going to sound stupid, but I really miss you, Terra. I know I said some really mean things to you that night at the carnival, but I'm sorry, okay? I'm so, so sorry…I never meant any of it."

Still no response from the petrified Titan.

"I know I never told you this, Terra, but I-I love you. You're the best friend I've ever had. No one's ever been as nice to me as you were; no one's ever laughed at my jokes before like you did. You-you made me feel special, Terra, like I was actually worth something. I-I shoulda said this before, but I forgive you, Terra, for everything you did, and maybe someday you can forgive me for giving up on you."

"You didn't give up on her."

Startled, Beast Boy spun around, ready to defend both himself and the sacred statue that had once been his greatest friend. At the sight of the gothic teen covered in her blue cloak, however, he instantly relaxed his guard.

"Raven? Ummm…what are you doing here?"

"Cyborg mentioned you'd come to visit Terra. Thought maybe…you'd…like some company."

"Oh…okay."

"You never gave up on her, Beast Boy, not even when she had you at her mercy, inches from death. Even then, you still believed in her."

"You weren't there, Raven." The young changeling explained. "The night at the carnival, when she revealed what she'd done, I-I betrayed her. I promised I'd always be her friend, no matter what, and then, when she really needed me, I turned my back on her, told her that Slade was right, that she didn't have any friends. I coulda saved her, Raven, but-"

"You were hurt." Raven interrupted, her voice as neutral yet powerful as ever. "Your words were spoken out of hurt anger. You've never been the best at controlling your emotions, Beast Boy, and that night, they were too much for you.

"But, in the end, you never gave up on her, not even when the rest of us did. In the end, you _did _save her, Beast Boy."

"I did?"

Raven nodded her head. "Terra was able to break Slade's hold over her powers through the strength and confidence _you _gave her. _You _made her realize she could still do the right thing."

"You think so?"

Again, Raven nodded her head. "I know so."

"Hey, Raven?"

"What?"

"Do you think she knows?"

"Knows what?"

"That I-I love her."

"Ummm…it was kinda hard to miss."

"Really?"

Silent, Raven nodded her head, causing the younger Titan to blush.

"Beast Boy," Raven explained, her voice never giving even the slightest hint of emotion. "You're not the smartest, or the strongest, or the greatest of the Teen Titans, and you'll never be funny-"

"Gee, thanks, Raven, way to make me feel better."

"But you're the most loyal friend I've ever had." She finished. "And the same goes for everyone else. No matter what happens, you're always there for us when we need you. You might mess things up, you might cause more damage than you fix, but you're still there for us through it all, and that's what counts."

"Ummm…Raven?"

"What?"

"Are you sick or something?" Beast Boy asked, lurching forward suddenly to slap the back of his right hand against Raven's hooded forehead. "Are you dying…maybe you have a fever-"

"Beast Boy."

"Huh?"

"We're having a moment here; don't ruin it."

"Ooops, my bad."

For several long minutes, the pair stood side-by-side, looking up at what was left of Terra, her stone form still outstretched in her final scream, looking just as she had only the other day, when her sacrifice had saved the city.

"Do you think we'll ever find a cure?"

"If there's a way to reverse the effect, we _will _find it." Raven answered. "We _will _bring her back."

"You hear that Terra?" Beast Boy asked, suddenly sounding more hopeful than ever. "We're going to find a way to bring you back, we promise."

"Come on," Raven nudged, turning away from the fallen hero. "Let's go home."

"Okay."

Together, side-by-side once more, Raven and Beast Boy began to make their way back towards Titan's Tower.

"Hey, Raven."

"What?"

"Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all walk into a bar-"

"Oh brother."

* * *

**Okay, so what'd you guys think? There it is, the end of Chapter Two. So, seriously, what'd ya'll think? **

**And yes, before everyone starts having a fit, I _know _Obi-Wan Kenobi killed General Grievous in _Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, _but I thought, given the technology the galaxy has, even then, it'd be fun to have a reincarnation of the vile General, and it'd be just as much fun to unleash it upon the Milky Way Galaxy, under new management and, eventually, his own command. Of course, Crix Kavar, as powerful as he seems, really does have no chance of stopping Grievous, so it'll be interesting to see how the next chapter plays out, won't it?**

**Also, in case any of you are wondering, the title here for this chapter was taken from the two-part Aftershock story-arc, the one where Terra and Slade almost destroy the Titans, only for Terra to turn on Slade and sacrifices herself to stop the volcano she accidently woke up, thus redeeming herself before being turned to stone. **

**And finally, if any of you are interested in any of my fictional works, feel free to visit my website, the link to which can be found on my profile page for Fanfiction dot net, this very site. So, feel free to give it a go. ^_^**

**Well, until next time.**


	3. Aftermath (Part II)

**Yes, I know it's been a little while since my last update, but the holidays, combined with college and working on a full-length original novel, just makes it so blasted hard to get any decent work on a fanfiction done without it taking longer than we'd like. But, at long last, it's here. I also want to thank everyone who's reviewed thus far, and, to make up for taking so long in updating, this is my longest chapter yet. And yeah, ya'll know I don't own the _Teen Titans_, or _Star Wars_. Now, on with the show.**

* * *

_**Chapter Three: Aftermath (Part II)**_

With his lightsaber running perpendicular to and above his head, Crix held his Form III stance, waiting for the lethal, infamous General Grievous to make his first move. Grievous, however, seemed to be in no hurry to attack, choosing instead to laugh mockingly as he, too, held his ground.

"Your pathetic skills are no match for me, Jedi scum!"

"You're supposed to be dead, Grievous." Crix countered, his mind still struggling to comprehend what it was experiencing. "Master Kenobi destroyed you on Utapau."

"Do not dare compare me to the pathetic prototype that preceded me." Grievous growled. "I have been greatly improved…able to retain my knowledge, skills, and memories with none of the biological weaknesses that come with it!"

"So they finally finished you off, huh? Yes, it seems to make perfect sense. Master Kenobi finishes you off, allowing Sidious to use his resources to revive you as a full droid, totally obedient and capable of only limited independence…that does seem like the kind of thing a Sith Lord would do." Crix allowed himself to laugh fully, using the knowledge that he would soon be dead to set him free from any fear he might have had. "It looks like Palps finally has himself the perfect errand boy, the perfect _slave_."

"I am no slave!" Grievous corrected, taking an angry step forward. "I am the commander of the largest droid army in the history of two galaxies, the most powerful, the most _feared_, being in either galaxy's history!"

"Is that what they're using for recruitment drives now?" Crix asked, part of him unable to decide why he was teasing and mocking such a dangerous foe, a being who, much like Asajj Ventress, had been the bane of Jedi everywhere, the same being who'd ruthlessly killed countless Jedi throughout the span of the Clone Wars. "Can't say I'm all that impressed, really. I mean, sure, you have new, shiny black armor, and it looks like you might even be a few centimeters taller, but do you have the same power, the same ruthless cunning, as you did _before _Utapau?"

"Why don't you step forward and find out?"

Again, Crix laughed, deciding it must be the freedom of fear from death that'd made him suddenly so light and humorous. "Come on, General, do I look that stupid to you? I mean, sure, I may be a kid, but I do like to think I'm smarter than that. We both know you're fluent in all six of the main forms of lightsaber combat, just like we both know you've already analyzed my stance, my body language, and as such have an appropriate counterattack already selected, waiting only for me to make my move."

"Smart or not, you must realized you _are _doomed."

"Of course I'm doomed." Crix agreed. "Neither of us fully expect a Jedi apprentice who's been out of the Order for a little over a full year to defeat someone like you, someone who's killed Jedi Knights and Masters far more powerful than me."

The mechanically-reptilian eyes of the new and improved General Grievous narrowed behind his skull-like faceplate, as though suspicious of Crix for having made no attempt at fleeing when he knew he was about to be killed.

"You forget, Grievous." Crix responded, accepting of the fate the Force seemed to have in store for him. "I'm a Jedi. There is no death, there is only the Force."

"Well then, youngling," Grievous responded, shrugging off the black cloak that covered his back, a single lightsaber hilt in each hand. "Let us see about reuniting you with your beloved Force!"

As those words went silent, the two sabers sprang to life, one blade green, the other a violet that immediately drew Crix's attention, causing him to temporarily forget the deadly creature preparing to kill him. As he studied the pommel of the purple blade's origin, he almost immediately recognized the hilt.

"That's Master Windu's lightsaber!"

At this, Grievous's laughter became louder than ever. "A gift from Lord Sidious himself, in recognition of my loyal service to his dark Order!"

A powerful, burning anger began to rise up inside of him, a hatred of the Dark Side, outrage at the mere thought of the Master of the Order's lightsaber being used against one of its own members. How dare they pervert the legacy of the Order like that?!

Without thinking, without realizing what he was doing, Crix charged forward like a wild, angry bantha, his lightsaber cutting and slashing with such ferocity and power as he'd never before known. Deep down, part of him did know the mistake he'd made, did realize the trouble he'd put himself in, but the young Jedi apprentice suddenly cared for nothing but striking back at the Dark Side, at making it feel even just a fraction of the pain the Jedi had known for the past year, to make someone, anyone, pay for what Darth Sidious had orchestrated. Crix Kavar had abandoned his Jedi training, had lost all control, and was now on the verge of not only losing his life but also his very soul.

His vicious strikes might have been enough to drive a normal lightsaber-wielding foe backwards, but when his emerald blade at last crossed with the matching blade the monster known as Grievous possessed, Crix found himself instantly repelled, the Kaleesh General effortlessly batting the young Jedi's attack backwards with such raw power that he found himself sailing through the air, desperately calling on the Force to keep him on his feet as he landed, bringing his saber back up into a Jedi ready stance before again charging forward, launching yet another assault, which, again, was batted back with childish ease, sending the young teen backwards with such ferocity that when his back exploded against the floor, he felt as though his spine had broken in half.

Knowing that Grievous was stalking ever closer towards him, Crix brought his saber's blade up, pointing it directly at the superior droid general and keeping it in that same position as he urgently pulled himself back to his feet.

As he violently shook his head, Crix knew he'd made a critical mistake, one that only younglings should make. He'd allowed his anger and hatred join him in battle, had surrendered himself to those dark emotions, and that, in turn, had cost him dearly. Of course, part of him realized, dark emotions or not, there was simply no way he would be able to defeat General Grievous, and his chances of escaping the infamous general with his life weren't much better. Why, then, when it was all but certain that he would fall to Grievous's blades, likely sooner rather than later, did it matter if he fought with anger and hatred in his heart or not?

Because, he reminded himself sternly, suddenly feeling, for just a few moments, that Master Zi'Kez was back with him once more, he _was _still a Jedi, even if there was no Jedi Order left to claim him, and, until the moment he drew his last breath, he do his best to do his decade plus of Jedi training the justice it deserved.

Taking three full, deliberate steps backwards to put more distance between himself and Grievous, Crix took a deep breath and held it for several long, silent seconds before exhaling it through his mouth, imagining the anger and hatred as small atoms leaving his body on his very breath. Though he still felt angry, still felt like he wanted nothing more than to _punish _Grievous and his masters, he did feel much better, slightly more in control of himself and his actions. Bringing his blade up in a Jedi ready stance, he patiently waited for Grievous to make his next move.

Watching Grievous as he continued his approach towards the young Jedi, Crix began to study his opponent, looking for some kind of opening that he might be able to exploit, some way that he might at least prolong the fight, some way he might be able to wear the general down further, knowing full well that he had no real chance of surviving.

And then he had it. It was an answer so simple, so brilliant, that he had no idea why it had taken him so long to think of it. He immediately felt ashamed to call himself a Jedi, to disgrace that Order's rich history by disgracing its name.

General Grievous, he knew, was a powerful being, a lethal warrior who'd slain countless Jedi in his brief career as the leader of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent System, second-in-command only to Count Dooku himself. Grievous, as all Jedi knew, was a master of the six primary forms of lightsaber combat, in addition to having mastered several variants of Jar'Kai, the form involving using multiple lightsabers, and, having faced Mace Windu himself during the Battle of Coruscant just a little of a year ago, he also had a good amount of knowledge in the Seventh Form, both Juyo and Vapaad. Yes, a master tactician and an expert swordsman, Grievous was an opponent very few Jedi could stand toe-to-toe with an survive. However, Crix realized, despite all of his skills and knowledge, there was one thing General Grievous would _never _have.

Switching his blade to his right hand, keeping the blade pointed down to the ground, he focused the Force around him into a powerful conduit around his left arm, allowing it to build up and strengthen as he prepared himself for his next attack, waiting only for General Grievous to get into the perfect position, the moment when his attack would do the most damage. After all, he doubted he'd get many additional chances to do this again.

And then Grievous was in position, and, releasing his hold on the Force, his left arm stretching out, a blast of invisible Force energy rocketed forward from his open palm, catching Grievous square in the chest and sending him sailing through the air, slamming into the far wall with such force that both of his blades slipped from his metallic hands, shutting off as they clattered harmlessly to the floor, and when Grievous slid down to the floor next to his sabers, the dent in the wall, the spot where he'd impacted, was so pronounced that wires and steel were now jutting out, sparking angrily as the lights overhead began to flicker on and off weakly. Allowing himself a brief smile, proud of his fledgling powers, Crix moved forward, his saber held loosely at his side, unsure of just how much damage he'd caused his foe.

"You may be powerful, you bucket of bolts, but your skills and knowledge are no match for the powers of the Force. And now," Crix said, twirling his blade and bringing it up above his head, ready for a finishing strike. "You will pay for the Jedi you've k-"

Before Crix could finish his sentence, however, Grievous's duracreet leg came out of nowhere, slamming into the young boy's face with such force that he could immediately taste the bitter, metallic blood flowing freely from his busted lips. Given no chance to defend himself, Crix found himself overshadowed by the towering figure of the black-armored warrior.

Knowing he was now in mortal danger, sensing that he might soon become one with the Force, Crix was powerless to stop his opponent as Grievous brought his left arm up into the teen's abdomen, driving the breath from his lungs as he doubled over, unable to retain control of his lightsaber, which, in turn, fell away to the floor, joining both of Grievous's own weapons. Now too weak to stop Grievous, Crix attempted nothing to stop his dark adversary as the general grabbed a handful of his Jedi tunic, lifting Crix clear off the floor, laughing mockingly at the Jedi apprentice who, they both knew, could do very little, if anything, to stop him.

"Your Force can do nothing to help you now, you Jedi scum!"

With amazing ease, as though he were but a hawk-bat's feather caught up in one of Bespin's legendary storms, Grievous threw Crix backwards, the young Jedi teenager angrily crashing through a large glass window and falling over thirty feet below to the floor of an empty storage room.

Moaning in pain, Crix forced himself up to his feet, looking up helplessly at the window he'd crashed through, knowing deep down, as Grievous came flying through the exit Crix had helplessly created, that the end of his times was approaching him, especially considering, he realized sadly, that his lightsaber, along with Mace Windu's and the other saber, and he would be dead before he could reach his weapon. Unless…

His reaction was sudden, without thought or plan, with no pre-meditation. He reached out his left hand, gathering the Force around him, and imagined that power's invisible tendrils grabbing his lightsaber firmly in its grips, and, with virtually no thought, he yanked it free of the general's hip, which had been rebuilt with a built-in utility belt, capable of holding, it seemed, up to six lightsabers at once.

General Grievous, however, had obviously anticipated just a move, for the moment the lightsaber hilt freed itself of his hip and began its flight forward, Grievous had stretched out his right hand, catching Crix's saber in his grip, and, laughing ever loud, the general closed his grip around the cylinder and began to tighten his hold on the weapon until, at last, the pommel cracked and shattered, the pressure so great that it crushed everything in its path, including, Crix realized, his heart now dropping, the weapon's famed focusing crystal, reducing it to a fine powder before it was dumped unceremoniously to the floor at the general's feet.

Not knowing what else to do, Crix decided to take the offensive once more, deciding that surprising the general would be his best decision now, when he no longer had a lightsaber to defend himself with. He charged forward, surrounding himself with the Force and concentrating it in his right hand, knowing that Grievous would have already pegged him for the left-handed Jedi he was.

It turned out, however, that Grievous had expected his sudden turn of aggression, for even as Crix was approaching him, preparing to launch his Force assault, Grievous stepped off to Crix's left, causing the young Jedi to cancel his coming attack and sail helplessly past Grievous, who, in turn, brought his right foot up into Crix's back, sending the young Jedi crashing face-first into the concrete wall.

Before he could move, before his brain could even register what was happening, Grievous grabbed the back of the Jedi's head and threw him with such force that the young teen cleared much of the room before gravity called him back down to the surface head-first. At the last moment, survival instincts kicking in, Crix used what little Force powers he could summon to avoid landing on his head, landing instead directly on his neck.

For several long, dark moments, the young would-be Jedi Knight could feel no other part of his body, unable to move his legs or his arms, fully paralyzed and at Grievous's mercy like never before.

"All too easy." Grievous laughed as, at last, he began to regain control over his body, pulling himself up to his feet shakily, staring at the mechanically-reptilian eyes of General Grievous as the monster stalked towards him.

"If it's so easy, then why am I still breathing?" Crix asked, ignoring the stupidity of teasing his foe, despite knowing how lethal poking and mocking the general could be.

"You have no chance of escape, young Jedi."

"So you toy with me, instead?" Crix asked, forcing a shade of humorous bravado into his voice. "And here I thought generals were supposed to be _intelligent._ Of course, there is an exception to every rule, but still-"

With a roar of rage, Grievous charged forward, and, relying solely on instinct, Crix somersaulted over the general's head, twisting as he began his descent towards the floor once more, ready to take the offensive once more. Before he could attack the general, however, Grievous spun around, catching Crix in the chest with his heavy duracreet foot, sending the young Jedi crashing down to the floor yet again.

Instinctively, going on nothing but muscle memory from years of combat training, Crix rolled over onto his back, but instead of handspringing back to his feet, as he would usually do, he found a duracreet triple-toed foot crashing towards his face, with such force that it would surely cave his skull in the moment it made contact.

With his destruction so close, Crix rolled out of the way just in time to send the general's foot crashing into the floor instead. Again, acting on instinct, not realizing the folly of his plan, Crix brought up the foot closest to Grievous, bringing his leg crashing into Grievous's leg…an act that sent pain fanning out through his body with such ferocity that he screamed out in pain, unable to help himself.

Again, Grievous picked up the young Jedi, holding him high in the air, relishing his victory over his much younger and weaker foe, knowing his victory was now complete.

Crix could sense the end fast approaching, he knew he was now only moments away from becoming one with the Force, to becoming only one more Jedi to fall at the ends of the infamous General Grievous.

Again, not knowing why, Crix, remembering his lessons as an apprentice, acted, with no thought or plan. His free left hand dropped steadily to hi side, even as he used the Force to summon Master Windu's lightsaber into that hand. With his grip around the fallen Jedi Master's weapon, Crix depressed the activation stud.

Suddenly realizing the danger he was in, thanks only to self-preservation protocols, Grievous dropped the young Jedi and leapt back, putting just enough space between them to be out of the reach of the violet, amethyst-powered bar of plasma that sprang from the pommel of Mace Windu's lightsaber. Though slightly larger and heavier than his own weapon, he still found himself adjusting to the new weapon with uncanny ease, as though he'd been using it all along.

"You should have killed me when you had a chance, general. Only a foolish rookie is stupid enough to underestimate his opponent, especially when that opponent is a Force-trained Jedi apprentice."

Grievous, in response, took his sole remaining lightsaber in hand, and, as the green blade snapped to life once more, coming up into a diagonal stance across the general's torso, a classic Form V stance of the Djem So variant, he charged the young apprentice, sweeping the blade in a left-to-right slash at Crix's midsection, an assault meant to slice the padawan in half. Knowing he would be unable to stop the sheer power and momentum behind the attack, he instead jumped back, clearing the zone of attack and causing the blade to sweep by harmlessly in front of him.

Deciding to follow up his defense with an attack of his own, Crix switched his grip on his saber hilt to a reverse Shien grip, bringing the blade upwards towards the unprotected left flank of General Grievous. The Kaleesh general, however, was ready for just such a blow, bringing his saber over his head and back down just in time to intercept Crix's attack.

Immediately disengaging the duel, Crix somersaulted backwards, but, even as he landed, General Grievous was on top of him, the green blade now launching a flurry of attacks that caused the young Jedi to hurriedly back up, using the Force to know when and where he should move, each stab, thrust, slash, and cut of the green blade passing innocently by only inches from his body.

Grievous must have realized his current mode of attack would do very little damage to his foe, he stopped suddenly with his furious onslaught and instead lashed out with his duracreet foot, catching the young teen in the abdomen and sending him skidding back several feet. Taking advantage of this new opening, he moved forward, bringing his green blade crashing down on top of the young Jedi, who, only at the last minute, brought the violet blade of Windu up above him, intercepting his foe's saber so close to his head that he could feel the energy of the weapons as they singed the smallest locks of hair.

Forcing himself to his feet, Crix held the saber-lock as it was, giving no ground, not even as Grievous attempted to push both blades back on top of the young Jedi. However, as the young Jedi already knew, his foe was superior to him in nearly every possible way. Again lashing with his right foot, Grievous brought his foot up so high that it latched around Crix's face, and with incredible ease, with a mere snap of his robotic ankle, Grievous had sent the young teenager flying across the room, Mace Windu's lightsaber slipping from his grip and shutting off as it rolled away, the purple blade gone as though it had never existed.

As he landed on his back, Crix forced himself onto his feet, ignoring the pain and exhaustion now flooding his body. As Grievous came forward, Crix charged forward, tucking and rolling along the ground as the general swung for the fences with his saber, the blade sweeping harmlessly over the young Jedi.

Now behind the surprised droid general, Crix jumped to his feet, but, even as he was prepared to launch a renewed attack, Grievous spun around impossibly fast, his free right hand balling into a fist as it streaked forward, catching the boy directly in his left eye with such force that it forced him to close the eye, the impact making it feel as though his entire socket had shattered. Not relenting, Grievous spun around hastily before bringing his droid elbow into the young Jedi's temple, causing his vision to immediately swim and swirl as the general then brought up his right leg into the boy's face, causing yet more damage.

Not knowing what else to do, now half-blind and so dizzy he could barely stand, Crix somersaulted backwards, narrowly avoiding a would-be lethal thrust at his heart by Grievous's green blade. Desperately propelling himself with the Force in an effort to put as much distance between the two as he possibly could, Crix took several deep, painful breaths.

Tentatively, afraid of the damage that had been done to his sight, he forced his injured eye open, and, to his immediate relief, he found his sight was perfectly fine, though he was sure he'd have a nice black eye as a trophy from the assault even _if _he survived, a possibility that didn't much appear to exist.

Before he could plan out what he might do next, Grievous was again on him, and again Crix leapt over the general's head, but, to his horror, Grievous had anticipated exactly that move, for the moment Crix was directly above the general, he leapt up, his head catching Crix in the chest, sending the young boy crashing to the ground on his back.

The wind driven fully from his lungs, Crix watched helplessly as Grievous moved to stand over him, his single saber held high above his head.

"And now, you Jedi scum, you become one with your vaunted Force!" And, laughing maniacally, he brought the weapon crashing down on top of his foe. Crix again acted, using the Force to summon the second lightsaber back to his hands, holding it just above him and activating the purple blade just in time to intercept the would-be lethal strike.

This, it turned out, was a move that was going to buy him only a few extra seconds, for, tired, exhausted like he'd never been before, his strength waning and ebbing, leaving him so weak he could barely breath. Realizing the nearness of his victory, Grievous began to push down with his weapon, and, because Crix could do nothing to stop him, the green blade started to slowly push the violet weapon down on top of him…Crix, he realized, would die not by Grievous's hand but by his own, falling to the blade of the famed Jedi Master known as Mace Windu.

Knowing his time was over, realizing that the bout was finished, Crix closed his eyes and allowed his mind and soul to drop into the Force, accepting the fate and destiny it had in store for him, knowing he'd lived his entire life as a Jedi should, even at the final moments, in the end…with that knowledge, he smiled.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Titan's Tower, Robin and Starfire arrived at the top of their home once more, only to find Cyborg standing at the edge of a small, triangle-shaped ship. As the pair strode closer to the small craft, they realized it was a familiar craft, the same one they'd seen the boy named Crix use to make his escape following the duel with Maw.

"Cyborg, what's going on?" Robin asked as he and Starfire reached their friend.

"I don't know, man." Cyborg admitted, moving aside so that they could both see the black-and-green dome-shaped robot situated just left of the empty canopy. "I've tried everything I can think of to communicate with this thing, but nothing seems to work."

"It's him!" A familiar voice shouted as the black shadow of a raven appeared, shrinking away moments later into the familiar forms of Raven and Beast Boy, the latter of who was shivering, his hands folded over his chest in an attempt to warm himself as the pair joined their friends.

"Ugh." He groaned. "Rae, I think the next time we get an order to get back here ASAP, I'll just fly. That dark energy stuff makes me feel weird." He finished with a heavy shudder.

"Dude," Cyborg remarked, as though unable to help himself. "You're green, can change into any animal you want, and eat only tofu; you _are _weird."

"Where is he?" Raven asked, ignoring her friends' comments as she looked around for any sign of the small vessel's owner.

"You're asking the wrong robot." Cyborg explained. "He wasn't inside when the thing landed."

Before anyone else could say anything else, the dome-shaped robot began to whistle, beep, and twiddle loudly, as though it might be trying to tell them something important.

"It sounds frightened." Starfire commented sadly. "Like it has a case of the worries."

"I can't understand what it's saying." Cyborg repeated, bending down to inspect the robot's dome, as though he might find the answer he was looking for here. The robot, however, seemed to have a different idea, for its domed head began to rapidly spin back and forth as a small antennae popped up from one of the green hatches atop its head.

"What-"

Before Cyborg could finish, however, a familiar voice began speaking from the little antennae. Recognizing an audio recording when he heard one, Cyborg said nothing as the five Titans listened to what was being said.

* * *

_"Skipper, it's Crix." The voice said, speaking calmly, in a resigned voice. "Get out of here, now. Go find help and bring them back here to finish the mission for me."_

_ A series of beeps and whistles._

_ "No buddy, there's no escape for me this time. It was nice knowing you, my friend."_

_ More beeps and whistles._

_ "Get out of here, now! Go, before they can stop you!"_

* * *

"Well," Raven said as the antennae disappeared inside of the robot's domed head once more. "_That _was clear enough."

"That boy, Crix, he must be in trouble." Robin answered, studying the little robot closely. "But why send him here? Why send him to-"

"He did not send him to us." Starfire explained. "He instructed his friend only to find help so that his mission could be finished."

"Star's right. This little guy must have decided we were the best hope to finish that mission." Cyborg confirmed, still doing his best to study the little bot.

"Hellllloooo?" Beast Boy interrupted, taking a step forward. "Do we even know what this mission _is_? How do we know it's not some kind of trap, maybe with some kind of eight-eyed, twelve-legged monster with huge teeth on the other end, just waiting for us?" He asked, half-transforming as though to prove his point. "And," He added as he resumed his human form once more. "We all know it's the handsome, comic-relief character that gets eaten first." And, as though terrified by those words, he grabbed his head desperately and began running around in circles.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Beast Boy's right." Raven said. "We know very little about any of this…we have no information on this supposed mission. It _could _be an ambush."

"Yes, and this Crix is just as big a mystery." Starfire added. "How do we know we can trust it to not be the ambush of which Beast Boy spoke?"

"We can't." Robin answered. "But we don't have much of a choice, either. If he _is _a good guy, then he's in trouble, and his mission may be vital to the city. If so, he needs our help."

"And if he's just another villain?" Cyborg asked pointedly.

"Then he's a threat, and the Teen Titans _will _take him down." Robin responded, turning to look at the dome-shaped robot. "Can you take us to him?"

Though the beeps and whistles were no easier to understand, they all knew what the answer was.

"We'll take the T-Ship, but be ready for anything." Robin ordered. "Titans, go!"

* * *

"The dark is generous. Its first gift is concealment: our true faces lie in the dark beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still. But the greatest concealment lies not in protecting our secret truths, but in hiding from us the truths of others. The dark protects us from what we dare not know."

As the T-Ship flew off into the unknown, a dark-cloaked figure was striding confidently across the bay, his feet just barely touching the surface of the water as he approached the giant T-shaped building that was Titans Tower.

Night was quickly settling in on Jump City, the darkness he so loved creeping ever gently between the buildings. Beneath the cowl of his dark cloak, he allowed himself a smile. So many ignorant, foolish people believed that darkness was merely the opposite of the light, that night was what happened when the sun went down. They believed that nightfall occurred immediately, that it was something that just fell onto the city when the sun disappeared across the horizon. Because of their inferior, limited minds, none of the could understand, could comprehend the truth.

Nightfall, he knew, like the darkness itself, was a gradual thing that didn't _just _happen. Nightfall began well before the sun set. It was a gradual darkness that flooded in from the east, gently settling in between the towering buildings as the sun moved further west. In truth, it was such a gradual thing that very few ever really realized what was happening, not until full night had overtaken them. It slowly enveloped everything around it, seeming completely harmless until its takeover was complete.

Now at the base of Titans Tower, seventeen year-old Rand Havoc stopped cold in his track, turning to look upwards. He by far preferred the night over the day, the dark over the light, he confessed to himself.

With nightfall, he knew, the shadows took over the landscape, allowing him to move freely as he made to accomplish his goals, whatever they might be, and because they could not see him his enemies would be unable to stop him. Though his powers were derived from an ancient magic, they were bolstered by dark environments and dark emotions.

When it came to morals, however, he believed in neither dark nor light. As he'd learned from infancy, all sentient beings had the ability to do good, kind deeds, just as they had the equal ability to commit dark, horrible crimes for nearly any reason. This, in Rand's eyes, had confirmed that there was no good or evil, no light or dark, but rather there existed only power, and those too weak to take it. Your own power, he'd always known, was all you could count on. When it came down to the wire, when all the chips were on the table, you were the only person you could trust to have your back, because everyone would always turn on you, no matter how close they claimed to be.

His smile only widened as he continued to study the now-empty Titans Tower. The Teen Titans might be Jump City's local protectors, but not even they could stop him, especially when he finished here tonight. Kneeling down, he placed a hand on the ground and extended his powers through the cold earth and through the full frame of the towering home of the Teen Titans.

They weren't novices when it came to security, he admitted grudgingly. In addition to advanced security protocols and defensive weapons, he could also sense several forms of magical defenses. This, however, worried him very little. There were basic wards, barriers, and metaphysical security alarms in place, but he knew exactly what to do bypass them all. Homing in on his primary objective, he allowed his powers to now wrap around him, cloaking him in their darkness until, at last, he allowed it to eat away at him, evolving his form into nothing but a small, thick plume of smoke.

With his conscious still in charge, he directed his smoky form up the side of Titans Tower until he reached the window he'd targeted. Stopping only to double check his thoughts and confirm what he knew, he allowed his smoky form to slam into the window, doing no physical damage as he slid harmless through the class.

Still nothing but a small cloud of smoke, Rand again gathered his metaphysical energy, like a spring coil about to be released. Then, at the perfect moment, he released his hold, allowing his dark powers to flood through the entire building with such ferocity that it ate away and corrupted all magical defenses.

With his way now clear, Rand solidified himself once more, smiling as he began inspecting the dark room.

Though he was no fan of the Teen Titans, he found himself admiring her style. This room, unlike the rest of the team, was dark, something she seemed to display proudly. Her powers, he knew, were great, far too strong to waste with such a pathetic team…

He stopped, then, as a sudden blast of hot, burning-hot energy began to fill him up. Using this energy like a tracking device, he allowed it to lead him through the room, stopping only when he found himself looking down on a dresser at an ancient-looking amulet. His smile wider than ever, he picked up the amulet, turning it over slowly in his right hand as he inspected it, ensuring it was, in fact, the real deal.

"At last," He muttered, placing the stolen amulet into his pockets. "I have found it; all his dark powers shall become mine."

Turning around, he made his way towards the room's door, happier than he could ever remember. "Now, time to have a little fun."

* * *

Having set down at the bottom of a small valley, the five Titans followed the dome-headed robot to a pair of heavy iron doors, beside which was a small, unusual-looking terminal was built into the wall.

"I guess we just knock?" Cyborg asked, his face unsure as he studied the doorway. Before anyone could respond, however, the dome-shaped robot rolled up to the unusual-looking terminal, and extended an equally weird-looking jack from its bucket-like torso that fit perfectly into the jack, which began to turn as the little robot whistled and beeped softly.

A blue-white light began to shine from the projector on the robot's head, and a moment later a large, holographic map appeared in thin air.

"Wow!" Beast Boy exclaimed, moving forward. "Imagine the movies we could watch with technology like that!"

"It looks like a blueprint of some kind." Cyborg explained, holding his right arm out as he scanned the image. "I'm downloading a copy now."

"That still doesn't explain how to open these doors." Robin responded, running his hands along the iron doors, looking for some type of hidden switch or button that would grant them access.

Again, though, the little robot began to beep and whistle as the jack and terminal began to turn once more, and almost immediately the doors began to slowly slide apart.

"I guess that works." Raven answered wryly, stepping towards the door, only to have Robin stop her cold.

"Don't forget; this could still be a trap."

Before any of them could say or do anything to respond to the Boy Wonder's words, though, the little robot began to beep, whistle, and twiddle loudly, as though it might be trying to keep them there for a moment longer.

"Ummm…Cyborg?"

"I-"

The cybernetic Titan fell quiet, however, as a new image replaced the blueprints he'd downloaded moments before. Though still a schematic of the entire base, it now showed hundreds of red dots, dots that were moving, as though-

"Are those-"

"Hostile patrol units." Robin finished, as though he perfectly understood what he was seeing.

"Ummm…dude?" Beast Boy asked, stepping closer to carefully study the image. "Where does it say that?"

"It doesn't have to." Robin finished. "Look at their movements; precise, patterned, and, together, they cover the entire area."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but if those are enemy patrols, we can't take them all down; there's too many of them."

"Raven is correct." Starfire added, joining in on the conversation. "We are five, and they are hundreds. If we take them in the head-on strategy, we would have no boo-yah, for we would surely be defeated."

"Star's right, Robin." Cyborg added. "There's so many of them I'm not sure we could avoid them all even _if _we tried."

Again, the little robot began to make a series of excited whistles and beeps as it again spun the terminal jack in circles. A glowing red dot, far larger than the others, appeared just outside of the schematic area, and, less than a full second later, the sound of heavy explosions began echoing off of the mountain faces around them.

"Yeah, they'll never know we're here now." Raven said dryly as the rest of the Titan's face palmed. Cyborg, however, was closely studying the schematics.

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg screamed excitedly. "Little robot has the right idea; it looks like the explosion drew off all the patrols…we should have full access if we hurry."

"Titans, go!" Robin ordered, and, together, the five friends charged forward through the iron doors and into the dimly-lit base beyond.

"Either my sensors are wrong, or…there's virtually nobody here; I'm only picking up a single signature."

"Can you tell who it is?" Robin asked.

"Or _what _it is?" Raven added.

"No." Cyborg confessed. "There's too much interference and it's too far away. But I _can _track it and take us right to it."

Motioning for Cyborg to take the lead, Robin followed immediately behind him, the others falling into place behind the Boy Wonder.

In silence, the Titans dove deeper into the mountain base, encountering no patrols as they continued on their way. Though they still had no idea what to expect upon their arrival, they were beginning to suspect that perhaps the call for help was sincere.

"It's getting stronger." Cyborg said, nearly five minutes later, as they entered what appeared to be some kind of control room. "Someone definitely went a few rounds here."

"Looks like they didn't have time to use the door." Raven added, approaching a shattered window as she crossed through the damage-strewn room, the others quickly joining her.

Looking down, the team of friends realized they were looking into a large, empty room…well, a large, _almost _empty room, save for two beings, one large, mechanical warrior with a green blade of energy exactly like Crix had used against Maw, and one smaller, all-too-familiar form.

In stunned silence, they watched as the large, mechanical figured charged the battered youth who'd saved Raven earlier, only for Crix to launch himself over the mechanical warrior's head. It appeared, however, the mechanical figure had anticipated this move, for he launched himself upwards, his head crashing into the boy's chest, sending him crashing heavily to the floor before he rolled over onto his back, now looking up at his opponent.

"And now, you Jedi scum, you become one with your vaunted Force!" The mechanical foe laughed, his voice manic and demented. His green blade lifted up, he brought it swinging down on top of Crix, who, rather than just accept his fate, used his powers to summon a cylindrical object to him, a violet blade appearing as though from nowhere just in time to intercept the to-be-lethal blow.

Even from their distance, however, the Titans knew, even as the more powerful machine slowly drove both blades closer towards the grounded Crix, that the young teen had no chance of escape, and he was certainly too weak to push the pair of blades upwards and away from him.

"He needs our help, now." Robin ordered as, out of the blue, as though he was happy at what was going on, Crix closed his eyes and smiled, as though at last surrendering himself to his fate.

"I got this." Cyborg responded, and, before anyone might be able to stop him, he jumped down from the window to the floor below, taking aim with his right arm as it transformed into his patented sonic cannon. Landing softly, he homed in on his target.

"Yo, Short Stuff!" He shouted, causing the mechanical warrior to turn his head towards Cyborg, who, in turn, smiled. "Pick on someone your own size."

And, with the end of those words, Cyborg fired.

His shot caught the would-be murderer square in his side with such power that it lifted him up off the ground and sent him sailing through the air and into a far wall, and, before he could move, Beast Boy charged forward, having taken the form of a Mountain Ram, his horned head connecting with the mechanical warrior with such force that the wall immediately collapsed under the weight of such power.

"Teen Titans, go!" Robin ordered from above as Beast Boy moved away from the fallen warrior, and, with that order, the Titans charged forward, each readying their own attacks to ensure that the dark foe could do no more damage. Together, with the perfect unity that came not through training but prolonged experience, Cyborg launched a second blast from his sonic cannon, a shot that impacted the downed warrior at the same moment Robin's explosive disks and Starfire's Starbolts found their own marks, causing an explosion of such magnitude that the ground shook violently beneath their feet.

"Boo-yah." Cyborg muttered with a smile as his arm took its original form, the Titans now moving towards the downed monstrosity, confident that they'd taken him down. Apparently, however, that monstrosity had other ideas.

With a mechanically-filtered reptilian-like roar, the mechanical warrior climbed back to his feet, clearing the crumbled wall from atop him as though the debris was light as a feather. Climbing back to his feet, the robotic figure pulled himself up to his full height as he stepped back towards the Titans, who in turn readied themselves for a fight.

"Don't do it, man, _don't _do it." Cyborg warned, again taking aim with his right arm-turned-sonic cannon took a single step towards the downed form of Crix.

"We do not wish to harm you any further." Starfire added, taking aim with arm glowing-green hands, the same glowing-green that had taken over her eyes.

"It'll be the last thing you ever do." Raven added, taking aim with her own magical powers.

In response to their words, the robotic figure returned his weapon to a holder on his waist before making to reach into a pouch on the belt built into his hip.

"Give it up, you guys." Crix coughed, pulling himself back up to his feet, the violet blade still in his left hand and pointed towards his foe, his right hand holding his abdomen in a way that suggested he might have injured some of his ribs. "The only thing General Grievous cares about is how many people he can kill in the name of his dark master."

"I have no master, you-"

"Don't kid yourself, General." Crix countered, interrupting the robotic figure. "I don't care what the Sith have promised you, you'll always be nothing more than a high-profile errand boy with no control over his own destiny. Your best bet would be to surrender now, seeing as how we have you outnumbered six-to-one, but I don't think you're that smart."

"Do not be so foolish to think that just because you're victorious in this battle you've also won the war, because this war is just beginning!"

And with that exclamation, even as countless explosions further rocked the room, the robotic monster known as Grievous tossed the little ball in his hands.

"Thermal Detonator!" Crix shouted, extending a hand as though trying to summon his mysterious powers once more, though nothing happened.

"What?" Robin asked, taking a step towards the device as Grievous disappeared through the wall he'd inadvertently created.

"It's a grenade!" Crix amended, causing the masked hero to rush forward and kick it away from himself and his friends.

"Raven," Robin ordered, somersaulting backwards. "Get us out of here."

In response, a black dome of metaphysical energy rose up around the group of six, enclosing and protecting them from the resulting explosion of the detonator, an explosion followed by a chain reaction of smaller explosions that shook the foundation of the entire mountainside base.

When at last the dome of Raven's black energy dissipated, the Titans found themselves, along with Crix, outside the entrance to the base, standing perfectly between the T-Ship and the smaller craft Crix called his own. Before anyone could speak, though, the dome-shaped robot wheeled itself forward towards the group, beeping and whistling louder than ever, stopping only once it'd reached the battered young teen to whom it belonged.

"What is it, Skipper?" He asked, shutting off his violet-bladed weapon and hooking the hilt to his waist. Frantically, as though desperate to relay its message, the little robot again beeped and whistled loudly, not stopping for nearly a whole minute.

"A self-destruct sequence, huh? Yup, sounds exactly like something that blasted coward would do; force us to fall back, giving him time to escape and evade capture."

"Whoa, you can understand all that?" Cyborg asked, eyes wide in surprise.

"Of course I can." Crix responded, turning towards the gathered Titans. "The Skipper here's been my friend and wingman for years now. Speaking of which," He added, not turning as he spoke. "Skipper, get the fighter ready for lift off."

"Hold on." Robin interrupted, taking three steps towards Crix. "You're not leaving until we get some answers."

"Sorry, but I'm afraid the question-and-answer session will have to wait, seeing as how I have more pressing matters to attend to at the moment."

"What _kind _of pressing matters?" Raven asked, moving to join her friend, the pair now only a foot away from the injured Jedi.

"I-I can't explain, not right now. Suffice it to say, however, that your city, this planet, and your entire galaxy is facing a threat the likes of which you couldn't even _begin _to imagine." Crix explained, now striding towards his ship, where the engines were whining to life once more as Skipper worked on getting the vessel ready for travel.

"If this threat is so dangerous, then why not tell us?" Robin asked, taking a step forward as though to follow Crix. "Why not let us help you?"

Crix, however, failed to answer as he took his seat in the cockpit of his small spacecraft, silent as he fitted a one-sided headset over his head and buckled himself in.

"Thanks for your help, and for giving me one last chance to do my duty." He shouted as the craft began to hover a couple of inches off the ground.

"Titans," Robin ordered as the small triangle-shaped crafted roared into the sky above. "Follow him."

* * *

Crix sighed as the planet's blue atmosphere faded away into the blackness of space. In all his life, even in the heaviest fighting during the Clone Wars, he'd never come as close to dying as he had moments ago at the hands of the reborn General Grievous. His body begged him for rest, begged him to slow down for just a single day, but Crix, thanks to his lifetime of Jedi training, ignored the pain.

"Okay, Skipper, are the rings set?"

The little droid beeped an affirmative.

"Good. Don't forget to bring us out of hyperspace far enough away from that Relay that we won't be picked up on any sensors."

Another beep, followed by a quicker, deeper series of whistles and beeps.

"Yes, we're going through the Relay…we're going home. I have an old friend I need to talk to, someone who can point me in the right direction, someone who can give me some advice on what I should do next."

Another series of whistles and beeps.

"I figured they'd follow me." He admitted, studying the scanners in front of him. "Don't worry, though; we'll lose them once we go to light-speed."

Again, there was another short series of whistles and beeps, though these had a more inquisitive tone about them than the others.

"They're teenagers, and they're not equipped to battle the Sith or the armies they command." Crix responded. "They know nothing about these enemies or the powers they possess."

A sarcastic-sounding trio of beeps sounded through his headset, causing the young Jedi to chuckle.

"Well yeah, of course I'm a teenager, but I've been trained as a Jedi from infancy, and even I'm no match for the Dark Lords of the Sith. Why do you think we're going back through the Relay? The Order may be dead, but I do know where our last hope lives."

More inquisitive beeps and twiddles.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." He responded as their hyperspace ring at last came into view. "In the meantime, once we're in hyperspace, I'm going to place myself into a healing trance, so don't wake me up until we get to the Relay. While we're in hyperspace, I want you to study your schematics of the Relay and flag any possible weak points."

Another question formed by whistle, beeps, and twiddles.

"Only what I have to." He responded as he maneuvered his Delta-7 _Aethersprite _into a perfect docking position, and, once docked, he pulled the hyperspace lever back, and with a mighty lurch, the small interceptor jumped forward, stars elongated into starlines, and with that they were gone.

* * *

**And thus ends the third chapter of this interesting story. **

**Before you go, though, there is something I want to say; part of me feels like something's wrong with this chapter, so could you guys please tell me what ya'll think, be it good, bad, or neutral? I really would appreciate some feedback. Thanks.**


	4. Aftermath (Part III)

**Hey, everyone, sorry it's taken so long to update, but between Christmas, family, and my own original work of fiction, I've not had much time to type much. Oh, and XBOX Live has taken up some time as well. Anyways, without further ado, here's Chapter Four. And remember, I don't own _Teen Titans _or _Star Wars._**

* * *

**ADDITIONAL STORIES BY**Guardian Kitch**:**

_**Star Wars: Jedi Wasteland (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)**_

_**Gates to Terabithia (Bridge to Terabithia)**_

* * *

_**Chapter Four: (Aftermath Part III)**_

"Okay," Cyborg declared, leading the rest of the Titans into the Tower's common room. "The next time we decide to follow someone into space, let's make sure they can't go into _hyperspace_ first!"

Following the mysterious Crix's jump to lightspeed, the Titans had spent almost four full hours scouring the Solar System for any signs of the young teenager before finally realizing that such a search was doomed to failure.

"Cyborg is most correct." Starfire agreed, following a foot behind the cybernetic Titan. "I did not believe such a tiny ship could obtain such great speeds."

"Who _is _this Crix guy, anyways?" Beast Boy asked, plopping down onto the couch at the front of the room. "Every time we see him, he's fighting some new bad guy and leaves it to _us _to kick their bad-guy butts and clean up _his _mess!"

"I wish to disagree." Starfire countered. "He did save our friend Raven from the dark Maw and her evil powers."

"Yeah?" Beast Boy challenged, turning around to face his Tamaranian friend. "Then why is it every time we save his sorry skin he runs off before we can talk to him, huh? If he's a good guy, then why hasn't he helped us in these fights, and why does he seem to ignore us every _single _time?"

"Beast Boy has a point, Starfire." Robin mused, Raven standing at his side. "He did help Raven, but he always runs away before we get a chance to talk to him, like he's hiding something-"

"Of _course _he's hiding something from us." Raven interrupted, the hood of her cloak hiding, as always, a majority of her face. "But I don't think he's evil."

"Perhaps," Robin considered. "But you don't have to be evil to be a criminal."

"Ummm…you don't?" Beast Boy asked, eyes going wide in confusion.

"To be a criminal you only have to break the law." Starfire explained. "Some criminals break the law out of desperation, or else because they are forced to do so, not because they are evil."

"Yeah, but they're still the bad guys…right?"

"All criminals must be held accountable for what they do, Beast Boy." Robin added, his arms folded across his chest. "No matter who they are, what they did, or why they did it, it's our job to bring them to justice so that they can be given fair punishment for their crimes."

"Regardless, he doesn't feel evil, and he's done nothing to break the law-"

"Yet." Beast Boy added, causing Raven to stop speaking as she turned to glare at the green-skinned teen, and, before any of them could move or act, the couch, suddenly enveloped in Raven's signature black aura, shot out from beneath Beast Boy, causing him to tumble to the ground…just in time for the now-hovering couch to come crashing down on top of him.

"Raven's right." Cyborg said as Beast Boy took his ape form, sending the couch across the room. "Whatever he's hiding or planning, he's done nothing wrong so far, so now I guess we wait until he shows up again, and see if we can get him to talk to us then."

"And in the meantime," Robin took over, his right fist slamming into his left hand. "We focus on Maw and Grievous and bring them down, before they can do anymore damage."

"Ummm…dude, I don't know if you realize this or not, but we know _nothing _about either of them; how are we supposed to fight bad guys we don't know and can't find?"

"By being ready the next time they attack." Robin explained. "The next time they attack, they _won't _escape."

"Yeah, that's fine and all," Beast Boy responded. "But can we _at least _get some sleep first?"

"C'mon B, you didn't even wake up until after _noon_." Cyborg said, sounding as though he might be slightly scandalized by his best friend's words.

"Yeah," The young changeling confessed. "But it takes a lot of energy kicking bad-guy butt all day and saving the city from certain destruction."

"Yeah," Raven said dryly, never losing her melancholy tone. "You _so _saved the day; what _would _we have done without you?"

"You can sleep later, Beast Boy." Answered Robin. "Right now we need to see if we can't find out where Crix was headed, and we also need to find out where Maw and Grievous are hiding."

"I'll plot the trajectory of his movement into the Tower's central computer and see if I can't narrow down his destination-"

Cyborg, however, never got to finish his sentence, for it was at that moment that the lights inside of Titans Tower winked out of existence, pitching the entire building into a near-total darkness that matched the outside world.

"Okay, that's _so _not cool." Beast Boy whined, but before anyone could respond, a large, glowing-red box came rising up through the floor in the center of the common room, easily drawing all eyes to its small, square form. Then, now hovering exactly four feet off of the floor, a blue light came to life atop the box, projecting twelve simple words into the air above it.

-TO: ROBIN, LEADER OF THE TEEN TITANS, TITANS TOWER, JUMP CITY, USA—

"Robin," Starfire said, her voice little more than a whisper. "I believe it is addressed to you."

Robin, in turn, was silent as he moved forward, taking the box into his gloved hands as he began to inspect it. The moment his hands touched the thing, though, the light disappeared, and, just as suddenly as it had begun to glow, it went dark, as, in total silence, the box opened up, while, simultaneously, the Tower's lights came flashing back to life, as strong and bright as ever.

"That was weird, yes?" Starfire asked, but Robin's blood went cold as, still looking into the depths of the box, the world around him came grinding to a halt.

"So, what is it? Please say it's chocolates this time. Honestly, I don't think we can handle anymore puppets." Beast Boy finished with a shudder, clearly recalling their previous encounter with the Puppet King.

"I knew it." Robin breathed, reaching down into the box with his right hand to retrieve the item within, feeling suddenly more alert, wide awake, and as frightened as ever.

"What did you know, Robin?" Starfire asked, moving towards the leader of the Teen Titans. When she reached his side, however, she shrieked with such volume that it left the Boy Wonder with ringing ears. Turning around, forcing his hands to remain steady, Robin held up a metallic mask, the right side painted a deep black and the left painted an orange color.

"What?!" The three remaining Titans exclaimed together, eyes going wide in shocked horror.

"No way; Terra took him down!" Beast Boy continued, his hands balling into fists as he approached the mask Robin was holding while Raven took the box from her friend to begin inspecting it more closely.

"I don't know, man." Cyborg added as he, too, moved closer to the pristine mask. "Something just doesn't feel right."

"I _knew _Slade wasn't destroyed." Robin growled, his grip tightening so much that he half-expected the mask to shatter.

"Perhaps you should read this." Raven said, causing the rest of the Titans to turn and face her. The empath was holding a single sheet of plain, white folded-up paper in her hand.

"Read it." Robin ordered, causing Raven to quickly unfold the paper before she began to read it aloud, her voice never wavering, never allowing a drop of emotion to color it.

"Do not believe that just because you've earned victory in the battle you'll win the war, for the war begins only when the battle ends." Raven paused, then, just briefly, before adding "There's an address here."

As she finished speaking, Raven handed him the sheet of paper, receiving the mask in return as Robin silently re-read the message.

"I'll be back." He declared at last, turning to walk off, only to have Cyborg and Raven appear in front of him, as though they'd come out of nowhere.

"And where do you think you're going?" Cyborg asked, his metal arms folded firmly across his broad, robotic chest.

"Where do you think?" Robin asked angrily. "I'm going to go finish what Terra started."

"Not alone, you're not." Raven corrected.

"Ummm…dude, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but when it comes to Slade, he's got your number."

"Beast Boy is correct, Robin." Starfire explained, joining her friends in surrounding their masked leader. "None of us could ever defeat Slade alone."

"_I_ can-"

"No, man, ya can't." Cyborg cut off firmly. "If this _is _Slade, you're gonna need our help."

"But it might not even be Slade-"

"Then you would surely be walking into a trap, and you would know not who is doing the ambush on you."

"Starfire is right." Raven agreed. "Whether or not this is a trap, whoever's behind it knows how you'd react and are planning on you rushing out to this address."

"Look, this might be nothing but a joke; it may not be Slade-"

"But you think it is." Cyborg again cut off.

"You guys need to stay here and work on Crix and his enemies, okay? If it _is _Slade, I'll call for backup, and if it's _not _Slade then I can handle it."

Though the looks of the four remaining Titans didn't change a single bit, none of them argued, giving Robin the chance he needed to move between Cyborg and Raven, leaving the room in silence for several long minutes after their lead teenager had left.

"I have a the bad feeling about this." Starfire said softly, now looking sadly at the floor.

"I'm with Star on this one, guys." Cyborg added

"So…ummm…what do we do now?" Beast Boy asked, his single tooth now visible on the left side of his mouth.

"You heard the man." Cyborg answered. "But bring up his communicator on the big screen; we'll keep a track on him."

"Cyborg, perhaps I should perform the trailing on him, just in case?"

"He wants us to stay here." Raven responded. "I don't think this is Slade, though; something feels off."

"If this is not Slade, though, then would that not be worse?" Starfire countered. "Surely, whoever sent Robin the mask and address knows he will come to them, and if they are not Slade then would they not have a plan to defeat Robin?"

"Robin can handle himself, Star." Cyborg countered, moving towards one of the computers to begin working on plotting Crix's last known trajectory.

"But-"

"Maybe Starfire has a point." Raven considered. "If this is Slade, Robin will need help, and with Starfire there he'd be better off until the rest of us could join him."

"And if it's not Slade?" Beast Boy asked. "I mean, Terra _did _drown the dude in a pool of molten lava."

"Then it's either someone who wants Robin or it's a prank, and if it's a trap he would still need help, and if it's just a prank…we all know how obsessed he can be when it comes to Slade."

"Which means," Cyborg picked up. "Starfire could keep him from losing his cool, at least until we get there."

"You _do _know Robin's going to go nuclear when he finds out that we not only disobeyed his orders but that Starfire _followed _him, right?" Beast Boy asked. "I mean, the guy doesn't like being second-guessed, _or_ having his orders questioned."

"Perhaps." Raven responded. "But just because he's our leader doesn't make him right."

Without waiting for anyone else to speak, her mind now made up, Starfire turned and flew away, following Robin out of the common room and towards whatever the night held in store for him.

* * *

Crix opened his eyes to find himself staring ahead at the multicolored expanse of hyperspace. Stifling a yawn, he stretched his arms as best he could, using the Force to wash away what was left of his exhaustion and pain, noticing that his body felt much better and more alive than it had since his first encounter with Elianna earlier that day. Accepting the gift of healing the Force had given him, the young Jedi looked down at the instruments in front of him…and instantly he realized something was wrong.

"Skipper, why haven't we reached the Relay yet?" He asked, frowning as he continued studying his fighter's instruments and his Heads-Up Display. "It shouldn't have taken us but a couple of hours to reach it, but according to the chronometer in front of him, nearly four hours had passed since their jump to lightspeed.

A long sequence of beeps and whistles came through his headset then, even as the words began scrolling across the bottom of his HUD.

_"IT DOES NOT TAKE A JEDI MASTER TO PLOT A COURSE THROUGH THE RELAY."_

"You didn't wake me up?"

_"YOU'RE A GROWING BOY; I ASSUMED YOU COULD USE THE REST."_

"Thanks, Skipper; I definitely enjoyed it. I owe you one, buddy."

_"CORRECTION; TAKING INTO ACCOUNT GEONOSIS, MYTUS SEVEN, ANZAT, JABIIM, ALDERAAN, MYRKR, BANDOMEER, BIMMIEL, SLUIS VAN, AND THE INVASION OF CORUSCANT, YOU OWE ME OVER SEVEN HUNRED AND TWELVE TIMES-"_

"Okay, Skipper, I get your point." Crix laughed. "Where are we, anyways?"

_"WE ARE APPROACHING THE DAGOBAH SYSTEM; ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL IS ONE STANDARD MINUTE."_

"I must have been asleep longer than I thought." Crix muttered as he checked his ship's systems to ensure they were ready to make the conversion back to sub-light speeds. "Hey, Skipper, what were the defenses like around the Relay?"

_"NON-EXISTANT."_

"Not even a droid tri-fighter?"

_"NOT EVEN SO MUCH AS A DROP OF HUTT DROOL."_

"Nice mental image, Skipper." Crix laughed. "Well, we now know just how highly this Darth Vector thinks of the threat I pose, don't we?"

_"OR PERHAPS THEY HAVE SIMPLY YET TO ORDER ANY SHIPS TO THE RELAY TO TAKE UP DEFENSIVE POSITIONS."_

"Perhaps, but I don't think so; if they were going to move in any fleet elements, from either side, to defend the Relay, they would already have done so. Nope, Vector doesn't see any threat to the Relay, and Sidious believes its location and existence are completely unknown by anyone alive today minus those who are completely loyal to him."

_"AS PER YOUR ORDERS PRECEEDING OUR EMERGENCE INTO HYPERSPACE, I HAVE IDENTIFIED A CRITICAL WEAKNESS IN THE DESIGN OF THE RELAY DEVICES. WHAT SHALL I DO WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE?"_

"Hold onto it for now." Crix responded. "We may well need it."

_"WOULD I BE CORRECT IN SUSPECTING YOU MAY PLAN ON DESTROYING THE RELAYS BETWEEN THE GALAXY?"_

"It's an option, certainly, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing next, not just yet; hence our visit to this backwater swamp…always did think Master Yoda was a bit out of it, and here's our proof."

_"PERHAPS, BUT I BELIEVE THE GRAND MASTER WOULD REMIND YOU THAT HE DIDN'T GET THAT POSITION IN A LOTTERY."_

"Too true, Skipper, too true." Crix conceded, remembering his countless lessons under the aged Jedi Master. "Okay, looks like we're about to make the reversion to real space in fifteen seconds, all weapons and shields are green across the board, and engines are at peak operational performance. Stand by, Skipper; cutting in the sub-light engines in three. Two. One."

Fitting actions to words, Crix pulled back on the hyperspace lever, and instantly, responding perfectly to the ship's orders, the hyperspace ring engines went silent, immediately slowing the ship down as the starlines reformed into individual stars, the green and blue swampy planet of Dagobah now looming directly ahead.

"Okay, Skipper, go loud; anything out of place around the planet itself?"

_"NEGATIVE." _The R4 astromech droid answered almost a minute later. _"WE'RE THE ONLY VESSEL THIS SIDE OF THE SYSTEM."_

"Okay, drop the ring and let's get going." Crix ordered, waiting the few quick seconds before the clamps holding the ship disengaged. Taking the control yoke in his hands, Crix deftly maneuvered the Delta-7 between the clamp dock and lower half of the ring, leaving the device alone as it orbited the planet.

As they descended into the planet's upper atmosphere, the young Jedi could sense a growing presence within the depths of the Force, a manifestation that felt much akin to a coming sunrise following a long night.

Then, with the small interceptor still making its steep descent, the craft began to shake violently, and while most would attribute it to stronger-than-common turbulence, Crix had the feeling there might be something else involved.

"Skipper," He ordered, flipping a switch above his right shoulder. "Landing struts are down. Take the controls; I'm going to see if I can't use the Force to help keep us steady."

Not waiting on the little droid's response, he closed his eyes and began trying his best to hold the small ship steady with his fledgling powers, something he'd never before attempted. He'd heard stories of other Jedi doing it before, sure, but attempting to do it himself…

Focusing on his own presence in the Force, he imagined his powers expanding outwards to envelope the Jedi Interceptor, using this mental image to imagine a clearness of nothing but vacuum surrounding them, and a moment later the turbulence seemed to lessen as the ship began to grow steadier and more stable, a would-be apparent sign that his attempt was working...and then the shaking and turbulence returned, stronger than ever as the power overwhelmed him with such suddenness that it opened his eyes, ending all hopes that he could use the Force to bring them in for a soft landing.

"Skipper, got us a good landing zone picked out?" Crix asked, resuming control of his ship as it began shaking harder than he'd thought could be possible. The droid, in turn, beeped an affirmative, and about that exact moment a small clearing came into view, nestled directly beside a small, swampy lake; though there wasn't much room, he knew that it was just big enough to land the craft.

Banking hard to port at the last moment, Crix whipped the little fighter around as hard as he could, and, in an effort to keep the nose up as he positioned the craft for its final landing, he found himself pulling back on the controls with such strain that he half-expected the yoke to snap out of the craft. Luckily, however, amazingly, it didn't, and, after several long, difficult moments, the winds buffeting the Delta-7 subsided, and, with eerie ease, the landing struts touched down on the foreign swamp, and the ordeal, he realized, was at last over.

"Piece of Corellian Spice-Cake, right Skipper?"

_"I BELIEVE MY MEMORY BANKS HAVE STORED A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE FROM THE TIME YOU TRIED TO RUN THE CONFEDERATE BLOCKADE AROUND MYTUS SEVEN."_

"Bleh, don't remind me about that one…I still have a headache from that one." Crix muttered as he unfastened his crash webbing and popped open the canopy.

As the small R4 unit jetted up and out of his socket, Crix stepped up out of the cockpit before wasting no time in jumping down to the damp ground, pulling his cloak around him, despite the warm, humid conditions surrounding him.

"Well, Skipper, we've landed; now all we have to do is find him."

"Lost something, have you?"

Spinning around and away from his ship and the R4 unit, the young apprentice found himself face-to-face with a three-foot tall diminutive figure with skin that looked more like wrinkled, green leather than it did actual skin.

"Master Yoda!" He exclaimed, instantly moving forward towards the much older Jedi Master.

"Surprised that you're here, young Kavar, I am not; foreseen your visit, I have."

"Then you must have some idea why I'm here, master." He responded, knowing by now that there was no answer to the question of how the Grand Master of the Jedi Order could have known he was coming.

"For you to make a difficult decision, come, the time has."

"Master Yoda, Sidious and Vader aren't the only Sith left in existence. I-I found another Sith, a really _old _Sith, a Dark Lord over four times older than even _you_."

"A grave threat to your home galaxy, then, this new Dark Lord would be."

"Wait…m-my h-home galaxy?" Crix asked.

"Tried, your old master did, to hide your true origins when brought you to the Temple, he did. Hmph. Knew differently, I did, the moment you arrived."

"That makes no sense, master; I'm from-"

"Told me the story about his discovery of the Relays between the galaxies, Talm Zi'Kez did. Informed me, he did, reluctantly, of your true origins. Agreed with your master, I did, about training you as a Jedi."

"Earth!" Crix exclaimed, not understanding why he'd just thought about it. "_That's _why Master Zi'Kez had Skipper store the coordinates to the Relay and beyond to Earth; he knew that I'd one day be going back."

The older master nodded his head. "Our plan, it was, to send you back to your home planet when came, the time did, for you to begin your Jedi trials. Has other plans in store for us, though, the Force has."

"Obviously." Crix muttered bitterly as long-buried memories of the night the Temple fell came rising back up inside of his memory.

"Mind your emotions, young one." Yoda reprimanded sharply. "Of the dark side, anger is. A shade of aggression and hatred is vengeance."

"I don't see how you do it, my master." Crix admitted, hanging his head. "You've been a Jedi for nearly nine hundred years, and for about eight hundred years you've been the Grand Master, and now, after all that time, you've been reduced to hiding in exile on some Force-forsaken backwater swamp…no offense, Master Yoda." Crix sighed, taking a deep breath. "How do you do it, master?"

"Changed, nothing has." Yoda responded calmly. "Fallen, the Jedi Order has, but destroyed, it is not. As long as alive just a single Jedi is, then survives, the Jedi Order does, and my duty, I _will _do. Remember my training, I do, and follow it until my final breath, I shall, as shall you, young Padawan."

"Of course, master." Crix answered, taking a deep breath and holding it momentarily before releasing it, allowing all his emotions to ride out on it, leaving him much calmer and more open-minded. "What are we going to do about this True Sith that's survived four thousand years in a galaxy far, far away?"

"Do nothing, _we _shall."

"Master?"

"Yours alone, this decision is. How best to help your home galaxy, up to you, it is."

"M-me?" Crix stammered. "Master, I'm no match for a Sith apprentice, let alone a Dark Lord who's survived for four straight millennia. If you couldn't defeat Darth Sidious, how could I dare defeat this Darth Vector?"

"Realized something, I did, when I lost my duel with Palpatine. Adapted and evolved, the Sith have. Allowed them to become more powerful than ever, this has, while trained, I did, my Jedi to re-fight our last war with the Sith. While they grew and evolved, stagnate the Order grew; the reason, this is, for our current predicament."

"That makes sense, master, but why are you telling me this?"

"Doomed to repeat history are those who learn not from it, young Jedi. If hope to save the galaxies from the Dark Lords, we do, then allow the Jedi to grow and change as the Sith have, we must."

"That's fine and all, master, but no matter how much I learn, no matter how powerful I become, I'll _never _be able to be a serious threat to Darth Vector. He's already corrupted Elianna, master, and even if I could bring myself to cut her down, Vector would still kill me."

"Fates worse than death, do the Sith have in store, if their way they're allowed to have."

"No, master, they don't." Crix vowed sternly. "I don't care what happens, I'll _never _turn to the Dark Side of the Force."

"Made this claim before, countless Jedi have, and fell to the Dark Side, they have."

"Yes, master, but I'm not Reven, or Malek, or Ulic Qel-Droma. I'm different than Anakin and Elianna were. I will_ not_ fall."

"So certain, you sound, and yet, inside of you, the seeds of darkness are."

"Master?"

"Capable of both incredible evil and outstanding good, all living beings are." Yoda explained. "The Light Side and the Dark Side, two faces of the same coin, they are, two faces of the Force. Matter not, do our abilities, but rather, the choices we make and the motives for our decisions."

"What am I supposed to, Master Yoda?" Crix asked with another sigh. "I can't defeat Vector and his forces, not alone."

"Alone, young Jedi, you will never be; with you always, the Force shall be."

"Yes, master, and it'll be with Vector too."

"Draws from the Dark Side of the Force, this Lord Vector does. During the centuries he's spent in the darkness, forgotten about the light, he has; your advantage, this will be. With you both, the Force is, but backed by the entire history and presence of the Jedi Order, Darth Vector is not. Draw on the Jedi who have preceded you in becoming one with the Force, you must. Fight wars alone, Jedi do not. In this galaxy or another, around you, possible allies and friends are. If trust them and confide in them, you do, then stand before you can no enemy, Sith or otherwise."

And then, as though he was suddenly waking up, it dawned on him. He'd already met some of those potential allies, a group of heroes who could help him take the fight the Sith Lord plotting against the planet of Earth. However, as quickly as that thought lifted his spirits up, they fell once more.

"Master, Vector's corrupted Elianna. Lady Maw, as she now calls herself, is playing Vector and Sidious against one another so that whoever wins control of both galaxies will think she's loyal to them alone. They've taken what little remained of General Grievous's biological structure and resurrected him as a complete droid that's more powerful than the original. I'm going up against two of history's most powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, their respective hand-picked apprentices, one of who was the Chosen One, and a robotic monster bent on killing whoever he wants. Any allies I could possibly rally to my cause on Earth, even with my help, could do nothing to defeat them all. Even together, it's unlike the Order's survivors would have a chance at stopping them."

"Together, no chance would we have." Yoda admitted. "But apart, a chance we might create."

"Divide and conquer?"

The aged Jedi Master nodded his head.

"It's possible." Crix admitted, thinking carefully on the matter. "But how…" He trailed off, then, as an idea exploded quite suddenly to the front of his mind.

"Skipper!" He shouted, spinning to face the silent astromech droid. "You said you identified a critical weakness in the relays between the galaxies, right?"

A series of positive-sounding beeps and whistles gave the young Jedi the answer he wanted.

"We could destroy one of the relays." Crix explained, hope rising inside of him once more. "Without _both _relays, travel and communications between the two galaxies would be impossible, so Sidious, Vader, and the Empire would have no influence in the battle against Vector." But once more his heart fell as another realization settled in on him. "But if I destroy one of the relays then I'll be stranded in one galaxy or another for the rest of my life. If I'm here when I destroy it, I'll never get back to Earth, and Vector would certainly win, but if I'm in the Milky Way Galaxy when I destroy it, I'll never be able to come back."

"Forbidden for a Jedi, attachment is." Yoda explained. "See why, now, you do."

Crix nodded his head. "I didn't mean to, but I've become attached to the world, the galaxy, I'm so familiar with, and it'll kill me knowing I can never return, that I'll be stuck in a foreign galaxy where I know no one or nothing."

"Yours alone, this choice is, young Jedi. Make this decision, I cannot, nor can anyone else. Know how to help this foreign galaxy, alone you do."

"Earth really is my home planet huh?"

Slowly, Yoda nodded his head.

"And you said you and Master Zi'Kez always planned on sending me back as part of my Jedi Trials when the time came?"

Again, Yoda nodded.

"You said the Force has made it clear it has other plans in store for us. Perhaps it's the Will of the Force that I begin my Jedi Trials now, rather than later."

"Strong, you are, in the Force, young Padawan. One day, a powerful Jedi Knight you will become, when learn to balance the old Jedi Order with the new, you do."

"Balance the old with the new?"

"The sole Jedi in this new galaxy, you will be." The ancient Master explained. "Up to you, it will be, to ensure the light of the Jedi Order never leaves it. Use well, you must, the texts and holocrons you and your friends rescued from the Temple ruins."

"You know about that?"

"Visited the Temple, Master Kenobi and I did, following the betrayal of the clones. Noticed, I did, the missing data. Two and two together, I put."

"You don't want them back?"

"The sole source of knowledge, those texts are not, and need them, you will, in your coming mission."

"You sound like you already know the decision I've made."

"Grand Master of the Jedi, I am. Won this job in a raffle, I did not. As you said, young Crix, the Will of the Force, this is."

Crix nodded his head, knowing deep down that his choice had likely been made long before now. His entire life and existence, it seemed, had come down to this moment, to this decision. He would miss his adopted home a great deal, and he'd never be able to forget about this galaxy so far from the one in which he'd been born, but he knew he had a duty, and Jedi Order or no, he was still a Jedi.

"Then, Master Yoda, to the Force, my duty shall I obey, and if I do die, at least I can say I remained true to the Jedi Code."

Before Yoda could speak, however, Skipper began to whistle and beep loudly as the rotund droid rolled up to Crix's side. One of the panels on the small droid's torso opened up, allowing an extender arm to extend towards the young Jedi, who immediately noticed a deep blue sapphire clutched firmly between the two prongs that made up the mechanical arm's hand.

"What's this?" He asked, taking the crystal from his droid friend as he listened to the response.

"Master Talm instructed you to give it to me when you felt the time was right? Thanks, Skipper…now if only I could find the equipment needed to fashion a hilt."

Again, the droid began to beep and whistle loudly, turning towards the Jedi starfighter as though attempting to show the young Jedi something. As if on cue, the twin doors to the compartment housing the craft's spare parts canisters opened, and, feeling as though he were being drawn towards the rear of the vessel, he moved forward, stopping as he found a small box at the very front of the canisters stored inside of the craft.

"Skipper, is this what I think it is?"

The whistles and beeps that came from the small droid could be interpreted as nothing but positive.

"I'm beginning to think Master Talm knew I'd end up in this situation, needing to construct my own lightsaber."

"Wise, Master Talm is. The construction of a lightsaber, a true test for any Jedi Knight is. For eons, a central core of Jedi training, this trial has been. Hmmmm. Pass this test, you must, if wish to be a full Jedi Knight, you do."

"How would that even be possible, Master Yoda?" Crix asked. "The Order's fallen, so there'll be no Council-"

"Be with you in spirit, the masters of the past will be. Close you are, young one, to passing your trials. Soon, when right, the time is, a Jedi Knight you will become."

"How will I know?"

"Know, you will, when right, the time is." Yoda explained cryptically, closing his eyes and tilting his head slightly to the right, as though sensing something faint and far off. "Go, now, you must, young padawan. Needed elsewhere soon, you will be."

"Of course. May the Force be with you, my master." Crix responded, grabbing the small box from the rear compartment and closing the doors as Skipper jetted himself up onto the portside wing and began fitting himself into the astromech socket.

"And with you, as well, may the Force be."

Seating himself into the cockpit and laying the box and sapphire in his lap, Crix fixed his crash webbing around him and began to the process of bringing his ship's systems online. Almost immediately, the small interceptor's engines roared to life, and within mere minutes, the young apprentice was ready for takeoff.

"Oh, and Master Yoda!" Crix shouted, forcing his voice high enough to be heard over the whine of the Delta-Seven's engines. "Thanks…for everything you've done, for me and the Order. I'll see you on the other side, when right, the time is!"

In response, the old Jedi Master bowed his head as the canopy closed down around him. Taking the controls in his hand, Crix nudged the craft into the air, and, calling on his training to keep himself calm, he turned the nose upwards and rocketed up into the Dagobah atmosphere, never looking back, not as the ship escaped into space, not as they docked with the Hyperspace ring, not even after the stars had stretched into star lines. Not once did Crix Kavar look back behind him, gathering his strength for the task that lay ahead of him.

* * *

It's not common knowledge. It isn't something you can flip to and read in any textbook. It's a fact most people will often try to ignore, rather than face it, this horrible yet true fact. Yet, no matter how much one might ignore it, it's still present, still the truth, and it's as simple, as it is true: every city has two sides. A city is but one side of the coin. On one side, you have the public city, the beautiful, law-abiding metropolis the world at large knows and recognizes. With its gleaming skyscrapers and sparkling lights at night, its beauty appears perfect. On the other side of the coin, however, there's the city within the city, the city that very few (the unluckiest of society) ever witness. In areas where even the police are hesitant and wary, this undercity is a no-man's land, a place where the only real law is to survive, by any means necessary, where the strong rule and the weak either obey or die. Dick Grayson, the sixteen year-old leader of the Teen Titans, known to everyone but those closest to him as Robin, knew this fact all too well, had known it for a majority of his life, since that tragic night all those years ago. Like many of the greatest known criminals, Robin was intimately familiar with the darkest alleys, the most dangerous districts, of this city.

Keeping all five of his senses alert and on the watch, the young solo Titan moved forward towards the abandoned warehouse, the address given to him by the mysterious package announcing the return and continued existence of his greatest foe.

Coming to a brief halt, now less than thirty yards from the front entrance of the building, he could see no visible signs of recent activity; there were no guards on lookout, no visible security measures, nothing at all to indicate that he was approaching the location of one of the city's greatest criminals. Had Slade, or this imposter, thought he'd not actually show up, or, as Cyborg and the others doubtlessly suspected, was Slade or this imposter counting on him showing up alone, without the support of the rest of his team?

He knew the risks of coming alone all too well. Despite his skills and knowledge, he was only one person, one part of a team, of a larger force of good, and, as Beast Boy had so colorfully pointed out earlier, Slade did seem to have his number. However, he also knew the dangers of confronting Slade with the rest of his team, his friends. Their last battle with the super villain had cost them much more than any of them had been prepared to pay. The cost for bringing down the monster known as Slade had been one Teen Titan, a broken heart, the near destruction of the Teen Titans, and a shaken and fragile team of super heroes, a cost it would take the Titans weeks, months, and perhaps even years to make up for, meaning, in short, that if Slade had indeed survived, as Robin knew he had, then the Titans were not yet ready to go to war with him once more; they would not survive another full-blown battle with Slade, not so soon. Ultimately, the young hero knew, he had to protect his team, his friends, even if it meant putting his health, his very life, on the line.

Now moving forward once more, his senses still alert for a sign of anything suspicious or out-of-the-ordinary, Robin reached the front loading door, and, wasting no time, he reached down and pulled up, ignoring the screech of rusted metal as it slid upwards, granting him an otherwise-silent entry into the empty, bare storage area beyond.

Looking around, he did his best to scan the dark area around him, a new, strong determination filling him up with confidence and strength. He'd seen the worst evil Earth had to offer, and though it wouldn't be easy, he knew, deep down, that he _could _defeat Slade, without having to risk the rest of his team.

It was as though that thought was the switch, for at that precise moment the lights above winked into a weak, dim existence, and it was only through his training and experience that Robin didn't find himself blinded by the sudden change in vision.

"As predictable as ever, Robin. You really should learn some new tricks."

Turning right towards the source of this voice, Robin found his blood freezing over and his muscles tensing in preparations for combat as, once again, he found himself staring at the six-foot-plus towering figure clad in the usual grey-black-and-orange armor, hands clasped firmly behind his back.

"I knew Terra didn't destroy you!" Robin shouted, stepping forward towards Slade.

"Come now, Robin; do you seriously think some child who can't even harness her own powers could ever stop me?" Slade asked, his voice as calm and emotionless as ever. "I have big plans for this city, after all, and no one will get in my way. Not Terra, not the Teen Titans, not even you, Robin."

"Yeah?" Robin asked, taking one of his steel, collapsible bo-staffs in his right hand. "We'll see about that."

Rather than move to defend himself from the coming attack, however, Slade merely laughed.

"Some things just never change, do they? We've fought one another a hundred times, and each time it's the same; I beat you to within an inch of your life; the only time you ever seem to win this little war of ours, Robin, is when you have the help of your friends, and yet here you are, alone and so very vulnerable."

"I don't need help to take you down, Slade."

"Why didn't you bring the rest of your friends, Robin?" The villain asked, ignoring his foe's words. "Did you think it'd be some kind of prank? Did you think maybe it'd be a wild goose chase? Or perhaps you're afraid of risking your friends again, especially after our last encounter."

Though he'd not thought it possible, Robin suddenly found himself feeling weak and vulnerable, as though Slade now had the key to completely destroying him from the inside out. As though he could read the young hero's mind, Slade's laughter grew louder than ever before.

"You and I _are _so very much alike, Robin, so much so that you could almost pass for my son."

"I already have a father." Robin growled angrily. "And I am _nothing _like you."

"Deny it all you want to, Robin, but you know it's true. The strength, the aggression, the willingness to go all or nothing, even that certain disregard for the law."

"I fight to protect the law, not break it." He countered, taking another two steps towards Slade.

"Is that so, _Red X_?" He mocked, causing a surge of anger to rise up inside of the masked hero. He'd indeed gone undercover as the infamous thief Red X in an effort to get close to Slade and figure out what it was the villain was planning, a plot that had seen him not only commit multiple thefts but had also put him in combat against the rest of his team. Even now, so long after that failed attempt at stopping Slade, he still wrestled with himself on whether or not he'd done the right thing.

"You couldn't stop me then, Robin, nor can you stop me now."

However, something else was now stirring inside of Robin, something much more worrisome than the buried guilt he still felt over his actions as Red X. Something, he realized, was off here…Slade, he knew, was up to something. He'd _known _Robin would come alone…

"What are you up to, Slade?" He asked, now within reach of his mortal enemy. "You _knew_ I'd come here, and you knew I'd come alone. Why reveal yourself now, and why like this?"

"Now Robin, that'd be telling, wouldn't it?"

Before he could react, before he even saw it coming, Slade's right foot had come up through the air, catching Robin squarely on the chin with enough force that it sent the young teen staggering back, unable to properly defend himself as a follow-up kick sent him flying across the empty warehouse, his now-useless weapon rolling away as he landed hard on his back. Before he could move, before he could even fully realize what was going on, Slade was on top of him, standing triumphantly over him with his boot securely planted on the teenage Titan's throat.

"It's over, Robin." Slade announced. "The era of the Teen Titans, the protection of super heroes, is coming to a close. Join me, Robin, join me or be destroyed with the rest of your friends."

"N-never." Robin forced out, fighting for enough oxygen to speak.

"Come now, Robin, don't be stupid." Slade responded. Desperately trying to just breath, Robin fought to gather the strength needed to respond. Before he had the chance to even open his mouth, however, there was a familiar flash of green, and then, a mere blink of an eye later, two green disks of energy slammed angrily into Slade's temple, sending him flying sideways across the room, leaving his one-time apprentice free to gulp in a lungful of fresh air.

"I am afraid you are the stupid one, Slade." A feminine Tamaranian voice declared. Pulling himself back to his feet, despite his anger at his orders being disobeyed, he couldn't help but smile. "Robin, are you okay?"

"Looks like your prediction was wrong, Slade." Robin answered before turning to face Starfire.

"Why'd you follow me, Star? I told you-"

"I know what you told us, Robin, but I was afraid you would require assistance, and it looks like I was right."

"It was still risky, Starfire." He explained sternly. "There were reasons I wanted to come alone. Slade's dangerous, too-"

"I understand why you wished to face our foe alone, Robin." She confessed. "However, we are the Teen Titans…all our missions are dangerous, and we are used to that. You wish to protect us, but it is you who needs the protection. You have become obsessed with our enemies, especially Slade. What if he had brought reinforcements? What if this had been the ambush of which we spoke earlier?"

"It wasn't-"

"But you could not be certain of this when you left the Tower to proceed here."

"Yeah, but-"

"There are no buts on this, Robin. Friends must not allow friends to walk blindly into danger alone. This is the reason we are a team, the reason we do combat together, as friends."

Robin opened his mouth but then quickly shut it, unsure of what to say. How could he explain to the girl who was, in most senses of the word, his best friend, that he'd not been willing to risk their wellbeing again, not so soon after they'd almost lost everything days before…

Luckily, however, the subject of their argument gave Robin the opening he was looking for, for it was at this moment that Robin realized something was, as Cyborg had mentioned earlier at the tower, not right.

Turning in the direction Starfire's star-bolts had thrown Slade, Robin expected to find the villain climbing to his feet, making some snide comment about Starifre's disobedience, but to his complete and utter astonishment, Slade's crumpled form remained face-down on the ground, unmoving, looking, for all intents and purposes, as dead as he should have been days before, following his demise at Terra's hands.

Robin had too much experience, though, to be suckered in so easily. Retrieving his lost bo-staff, he extended the weapon before cautiously stalking towards Slade, on the watch for any sign of life or deception from his arch-nemesis, Starfire hovering slightly behind him, star-bolts hot and ready to fire at the slightest sign of attack.

It was soon apparent, however, that the battle was over, for when Robin at last turned the fallen villain over, he realized (with a mixture of disappointment and relief) that Slade had yet to truly return, silent as he stared down at a shattered face and a small television screen, the same kind of robotic double he'd faced the night his friends had unmasked the truth behind Red X. As he and Starfire looked down at the flickering, static-filled screen, Robin got the sudden feeling that this whole thing had been nothing but a setup…

_"So, _you're_ the _infamous_ Boy Wonder, huh?"_ A cold, deep voice said, cutting into the silence. "I'd have expected someone with your reputation to be a little older and taller."

As he spoke, the static disappeared, replaced now with a towering figure in a crimson cloak, his face covered in a black, skull-like mask with two crimson streaks, one above each eye, and a matching crimson cloth that divided the mask into two equal parts, covering his nose.

"Who are you?"

_"That really doesn't matter, not now, anyways. Satisfy yourself with the knowledge that I am, beyond a shadow of a doubt, _the _most dangerous individual you will ever meet."_

"Where's Slade?"

_"That piece of worm-ridden filth? As far as I know, he's been reduced to his most basic molecules, thanks to that pretty little vixen friend of yours. Of course, those things we belief dead and gone often have a way of returning when we least expect or want them."_

"Then why-"

_"This robot?" _The mysterious figure asked with a sharp laugh. _"It's like I said, Robin," _He explained, now sounding exactly like Slade. _"You really _are _predictable. I knew that if I gave you enough clues you'd find this place, and I also knew nothing would grab your attention quiet like Slade would. This robot was but the bait, you fool, and, like all fish, you bit."_

"Why bring me here, then? What do you want?"

_"Now why in the five moons would I tell you that? I mean, I tell you that, then you'll know what I'm planning, then I'd be reduced to a memory, just like the template for this useless thing. I mean, if you know what I was planning, right this very moment, then you'd race home, desperate to save your friends-"_

"WHAT?!" Robin asked, pulling his communicator from his belt and flipping it open, urgently, frantically, hailing each of the other three Titans. The screen, however, remained full of static.

"_WHAT _have you done with our friends?" Starfire asked, angry as she jumped on top of the fallen robot, her right foot placed on the machine's neck and her star-bolts now aimed directly at the screen.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, sexy little alien. _I _have done nothing to your weak little friends."

"Come on Starfire, we've got to get back to the Tower, now!" Robin said, causing Starfire to move away from the fallen robot, allowing Robin to again face their newest enemy.

"We _will _find you, and when we do-"

"Of course you'll find me, you pathetic little hero…I'm counting on."

Angry at both this mysterious figure and himself for being so gullible and blind, not knowing what else to say, Robin brought the end of his staff down, crashing through the screen and sending angry sparks everywhere.

Once on his cycle, Robin sped off back towards Titans Tower, Starfire soaring dozens of feet above him, the pair of friends desperate to get home and warn the rest of their team, his head swimming with a hundred scenarios of what they may well find upon their arrival home.

When at last the pair arrived, however, there was no one to be found. Inside of the tower, the lights were still on but, as the old adage goes, there was no one home.

"Robin, wh-EEEEKKKKK!"

Wheeling around at the sound of his friend's screech, he saw a blue blast of energy wash over Starfire, causing her to fall to the ground, unmoving as she landed.

"STARFIRE!"

As he rushed to help her, however, a blue flash of light temporarily caught his attention, and then, only moments later, his entire body went numb and began to violently tingle, and then darkness claimed his entire universe, relieving him of all his burdens.

* * *

Almost half a day later, the blue and black Delta-7 Interceptor found itself screaming down through Earth's atmosphere. Upon their return to the Milky Way Galaxy, Crix had locked onto the weakness identified by Skipper, and, after four consecutive torpedo strikes, the Relay had at last fallen, severing all known ties between the galaxies. Now, with that mission over and his fate now sealed, Crix found himself en route to Titans Tower, hoping he'd be able to recruit the heroes in his fight against Vector, Elianna, and the forces they seemed to be mustering.

However, for the moment, he was thinking of none of this. His mind was focused instead on whether or not he'd made the right decision as he stared at his new lightsaber, the weapon he'd built while in hyperspace, en route from Dagobah.

At its basic level, the hilt was the darkest possible shade of black, the metal polished and gleaming in the capital's filtered sunlight. At the neck of the hilt, a piece of silver metal, narrower than the rest of the hilt, jutted out, connecting the blade emitter with the rest of the hilt. Wrapped around the narrower piece of silver metal was a spiraling set of blue metallic wire, one end hooking into the emitter and the other into the main part of the hilt, and while this wire was thin it was also surprisingly strong and inflexible. At the bottom of the hilt was a series of parallel series of foam-like strips that encircled the entire bottom quarter of the hilt, making for a comfortable hand grip, and like that metal wire and the activation stud at the top of the hilt, the hand grips were colored blue. Between two of the hand grips, and the very bottom of the hilt, just below where his hands would grab the weapon, was a small black stud, which hooked onto the belt around Crix's waist. Though he'd only gone for a basic design, he found himself impressed and captured by the beauty of the weapon's design.

He sighed, again questioning his decision. Had he made the right choice in destroying the relays and forever separating the two galaxies? Could he have found some other way to stop the Sith besides cutting himself off from home forever more? What if this _wasn't _the right choice? What if he'd ensured the fall of light in both galaxies through his unilateral decision?

_"Yours alone, this choice is, young Jedi. Make this decision, I cannot, nor can anyone else. Know how to help this foreign galaxy, alone you do."_

Taking a deep breath as Skipper began to whistle urgently, Crix closed his eyes and, for the moment, shut all doubts from his mind. He couldn't go back in time and change what had happened, and, as the Jedi he was, he would do his duty and move on with the future, whatever it may hold.

"Open up the comm. To all broad channels, Skipper. Let's see if anyone's home." Crix ordered as the Jedi fighter zoomed forward, the towering figure of Titans Tower now looming ahead.

"Crix Kavar hailing Titans Tower." He addressed as the fighter began to slow and hover in place just in front of the top of the tower. "Crix Kavar to the Teen Titans…can anyone read me, over?"

Crix waited in silence, wondering if perhaps they were getting ready to attack, afraid he might be an enemy, perhaps with Elianna or her new master. The radio, however, remained silent.

"Something feels off." Crix muttered, stretching out with the Force until his sense encompassed the entire small island. However, there was nothing, no sign of life anywhere outside of the ocean and the city itself.

"Hold on to your backside, Skipper; I'm taking us down."

The little droid, however, remained silent as the small craft nose-dived down to the front of the tower, and, even before the landing struts had lowered, Crix had popped the canopy and was running towards the front entrance of Titans Tower.

Slowing down as he approached the door, the young apprentice realized he'd seen this scene before…well, not this exact scene, but he recognized all too much of it, the pock-marks of blaster fire missing their targets, the scorched sight of enemy fire strafing a moving target…this place had seen a battle with Super Battle Droids, and, judging by the odor of carbon scorching, it'd been extremely recently, perhaps only hours before.

"I knew you'd come here."

Spinning around as Skipper began to whistle and wail loudly, Crix found himself face-to-face with a shimmering blue image, the holographic image, he realized, of the newly-christened Darth Maw.

"They're alive…for now." The pre-recorded message explained. "However, if you do not show up at the coordinates saved to this holo-disk within 72 hours of the activation of this message, then they will die, and it will be slow and painful, for I know you will feel it. If you show up before then, you will all die, and if you show up later, you will all die. If you do not come alone, and unarmed, you will die. I know how difficult it will be for you to show such patience, to anguish, knowing you can do nothing to help the Teen Titans. You do anything to interfere in our plans, or if you try to find and free them, you will all die, and this city, this planet, will _burn_."

As the image faded away, Crix knew the entire war had just evolved. As he picked up the holo-disk, he heard Skipper beep and twittle a question.

"Yes they do, buddy." Crix responded, jumping back up into the cockpit of his fight. "They think they have me real good."

Another beep and twittle to signal another question.

"What else can I do, buddy? It's time to change the rules and do something stupid, crazy, foolish, and totally unexpected; they want me, then they can have me. Skipper, do you mind taking us home?"

The little droid whistled an affirmative, and, as the cockpit sealed around him, the Jedi interceptor screamed up into the air, leaving Crix free once more. Reaching into his robes, he pulled free a small device, a holocron he'd rescued from the Jedi Temple. The property of one of the most infamous Jedi in history, he'd been wary of learning from it, but now, as he re-played in his mind the brief message Elianna had left him, he knew this holocron may well be his only hope.

"Well, Master Surik, I hope you're ready to teach, because it looks like I'm ready to learn."

* * *

**~Six hours later~**

"I am sorry, my master, but according to the diagnostics we've run on the relay device in the Outer Rims, the relay in the second galaxy has been destroyed. Our plans for that galaxy have failed."

"It matters not, Lord Vader; this second galaxy is of no concern to us. The Jedi have fallen and the Sith rule this galaxy once more. Let _Lady Maw _and her mechanical pet have their fun, or let them be destroyed in the process; nothing they or any surviving Jedi traitors who fled there can stop us, my friend. All that matters now, Lord Vader, is the continuation of your training and the consolidation of our power."

"As you wish, my master."

* * *

**So, what'd you guys think? Did this seem too rushed too you?**

**Before you go, I have a few things to say. First, in case anyone is going to tell me that Starfire's star-bolts wouldn't be strong enough to KO a Slade robot, her powers are ruled by emotions, so the more emotion, the stronger her powers are, right?**

**So, tell me what ya'll think!**


End file.
